Bullets and Scars
by PopcornMaster
Summary: The story of Commander Avery Shepard, Commanding Officer of the Normandy, first human Spectre.
1. Chapter 1

A cracked lip. A black eye. Two broken ribs. A fractured arm. A concussion.

iYou should've seen the other guy./i

"How did this happen?"

"It was an accident." iI stole some red sand./i

The nurse raised an eyebrow, looking at her with great disbelief.

"I fell down the stairs." iAnd there's a dead body at the end of them./i

The woman kept looking at her for a few moments, Avery knew she wasn't fooling anyone but as long as she didn't confess to anything else, there was nothing the nurse could do. And besides, she did fall down the stairs, the guy did too. She was just keeping out the part where they were fighting right before they fell and he died.

The nurse sighed and turned her back to her. "Well, there's not much else we can do for you. Your arm and your ribs will heal soon enough, if you avoid falling down in stairs again."

Avery snorted.

"You will need to rest a lot and the concussion might make you feel tired for a few days now."

She rolled her eyes. Like you could rest well when you were living the life she did.

"Do you have anyone to come and pick you up?"

She stood up, suppressed a groan from the pain coming from her abdomen, gritting her teeth. "No."

"Is there anyone we can call, maybe your parents-?"

"I said no" she growled, silver eyes shot daggers at the woman before Avery turned, leaving the room. iMoron./i

This wasn't her life. It couldn't be. It was all just a dream and she would at any given moment wake up from this nightmare. She would be in a warm bed, under a blanket, and not behind some cargo trying to sleep to the endless noises of the nightlife in the city. She would know that just a few feet away behind the wall was her parents sleeping.

But she knew... she knew that she wouldn't wake up. The only escape she had from this place was when she fell asleep, dreaming away to other worlds, other places far beyond Earth.

Avery leaned back against the crate, feeling the wind softly caress her face as she looked up at the night sky filled with bright stars.

Maybe it would be for the best if she just died. She wouldn't have to wait for her dream to come true and she wouldn't be trash walking the streets, polluting the air of the other citizens. Not to mention that she would be free of the Reds. Sure, they'd been the closest she ever came to having a family and was probably the reason she was still alive, but it was just barely. And what kind of life did she really have?

"Ave!"

She turned her head to the one that had called out her name, frowning at the sight of him. "Fuck off, Finch."

"Hello to ya too."

"I said; Fuck. Off."

"I heard ya."

She got up from the ground, running a hand, the one not in a cast, through her red hair. "What do you want?"

He grinned at her. "What if I just want to talk?"

Avery rolled her eyes, "You never just want to talk."

He laughed. She had never liked the way he laughed, it sounded too... she didn't know what. "Gabe wants to see ya."

She flinched. Gabe... he wasn't dead? But she was sure that he... when they fell down the stairs... she checked his pulse. He was dead when she left, she was sure of it.

Her heart was pounding hard in her chest as she straightened.

"Looks like ya expected ya wouldn't see him again, huh Ave?"

She turned away from him. "No, I didn't."

"I'd lie to ya if I said he's happy."

Not that she thought he would be. She would be dead if she went to see him. She would be dead if she refused to. Avery couldn't believe how predictable her life was - she always knew that he would be the death of her. She just didn't think it would happen the day before she turned eighteen.

"Are ya gonna make a fuss about coming?"

She bit her lower lips, shaking her head as an answer. She was in no state to pick a fight with anyone, even if it was Finch. It would be an easy victory for him if she tried.

"Good. Makes my life easier."

"Avery."

She didn't care for the sound of her name coming from his mouth; it sounded like it was venom being spewed out, it always did, always had. He was standing in the middle of the room, just a few feet away from her, the lightning poor, making him look even more terrifying than she already found him. Other members from the Tenth Street Reds stood behind him, poorly hidden in the shadows.

She wouldn't show him an ounce of fear.

"Gabe."

Eyes. His eyes. Like steel they were already cutting through her, stealing the air out of her lungs, slowly carving its way into her chest to bare her heart.

"My sweet Avery..."

He took a step closer, she took one back, hitting the chest of Finch behind her. Gabe grinned.

"Aren't you happy that I'm alive Avery?"

She clenched her jaw. "No."

"You're wounding me Avery." He continued to grin, taking another step, coming even closer to her.

iStop saying my name./i

"I'm happy that you're alive Avery." He looked to the others behind him, to Finch behind her. "Aren't we all?"

No one answered him.

iJust get it over with and kill me already./i

He took another step, now standing just a few inches away from her. Avery could feel her heart pounding hard inside her chest, so hard she almost believed that everyone in the room could hear it.

"My sweet Avery, look what happened to your pretty face..." He raised a hand to caress her cheek.

iDon't touch me./i

His thumb slid over the wound on her upper lip before he grabbed her jaw tightly pulling her face closer to his. "Don't you dare try and do something like that again Avery, you hear me?"

She could feel tears burning behind her eyes, but she wouldn't him see her cry. She wouldn't show how much he hurt her.

"You're mine and I won't ever let you leave." He clutched even harder.

She glared at him, and if looks could kill... They'd both be dead right now.

How? How did he survive falling down those stairs? And without any wounds? He'd just lost consciousness? Why? If she'd know, she would've... she would have killed him then. Life wasn't fair, it wasn't...

"Do you get it Avery? If you ever try to leave again, I iwill/i kill you" Gabe shouted, she closed her eyes to keep the tears away, but she could feel them streaming down her cheeks no matter how much she wished that they wouldn't.

"Leave us" he ordered the rest of the gang. She hoped that they wouldn't, but knew that it didn't matter what she wished for, and soon she could hear footsteps passing them, the door open and close behind them. He loosened his grip of her mouth.

"Gabe please..."

He didn't listen, crushing her lips with his own. The wound in her lip teared open again, the taste of metal soon mingling with the taste of him in her mouth. Avery wished that he would just kill her.

The sun was shining into the small apartment, the curtains swaying slowly back and forth in the wind coming from the open window. Avery was still in the bed, her whole body sore from the abuse she'd been put through. She could hear Gabe getting undressed in the bathroom, preparing to take a shower. She could hear his words echo through her mind.

i'If you ever try to leave again, I /iwilli kill you.'/i

She could hear him turning on the water and that was her only chance. He would be in there for at least twenty minutes. She was escaping. She was going to run so far away from here that he could never find her again, or he was going to find her and kill her. Either way, she was escaping him.

Avery sat up, quickly pulled a sweater over hear head, putting on the closest pair of pants she could find. She took his weapons, the ones she could find, tucked them inside a bag - she could sell them and get enough credits to get off this lousy planet if her original plan would fail. She walked over to the door and grabbed her boots, not wanting to put them on so she would be quieter, before standing still...listening. Carefully she opened the door, looked outside. No one was there. She sneaked outside, her heart in her throat. As soon as she reached the stairs, she ran. She ran down the stairs as fast as she possibly could, almost falling over a few times. She ran out from the apartment building and she continued to run. She would never stop running. Not until she knew she was safe from him. Not until she knew that he couldn't find her, not until she knew he couldn't catch up with her.

And she knew just where to run.

She sold the guns she'd stolen from Gabe in a nearby weapon store, got enough credits to afford a ticket to a cruiser if her next stop wouldn't go as she hoped it would. She stopped now for a break, catching her breath and pulling on the boots she's been running with in her hands for half an hour now. She wiped the sweat away from her forehead, wished that she had some water, but knew that wasn't the top of her priority list right now.

Avery looked around, knew that this place wasn't more than just a few minutes away from where she was going to - she had planned this for a while now. She would've gotten away yesterday if someone from the Reds hadn't seen her and called Gabe. If she'd been faster. But this was as good as anything. She just wished that she could've killed him for what he'd done to her.

She could see it now, the huge building in front of her. The Alliance Military Base of the city. She stepped inside, looking around, walking over to the other end of the room, a man sitting behind a wall of glass. She stopped in front of it.

"Yes?" the man asked.

"I would like to enlist."

He carefully examined her for a few moments and she hoped to whatever God there was that he wouldn't tell her to leave because of a fractured arm. He looked over to a screen, his fingers moving over a datapad. "Name?"

She almost sighed from relief. "Avery Shepard."


	2. Chapter 2

The stars moved by so slowly outside the small window of the giant cruiser that Avery was now on. But even though the ship had not yet it's FTL drive engaged, she knew that they were getting further and further away from Earth with each passing minute. That with every second she was getting away from Gabe. That she was now free, that even if he could find her again, he couldn't hurt her. She was no longer his. She was free.

She knew all this and she couldn't remember the last time she felt this kind of happiness. It was probably better if she didn't remember it either. And still she felt the anxiety clawing inside of her. She was now more afraid than ever before. She had left him, left her home and all she ever knew behind her, but she still couldn't stop thinking about it. About Gabriel.

How could she be sure that he couldn't find her? That he wouldn't get her back? What if she wasn't fit to be in the military? What if they decided to send her back? They couldn't, could they?

No. She wouldn't go back. If the Alliance wouldn't have her, she could find a job on a colony on another planet, in another system, or a spacestation. She would do anything, go anywhere in the galaxy, but she wouldn't go back to Earth. She would never go back there. No matter what.

Blonde hair didn't suit her. In retrospect, it had been a bad idea to bleach her hair. It didn't suit her a one bit. It also didn't help her to prove that she wasn't a shallow and stupid as the others at BaAT seemed to think she was. And she didn't know why she cared so much about what they thought, why she thought that another haircolor would change their minds.

But what she disliked most wasn't her blonde hair, or her brown hair for that matter, or the others believing that she was shallow and didn't belong in the military. What Avery hated th emost was that she let it get to her. All of it. That she felt that she needed to change herself to get their approval. That she was still afraid that Gabe would find her. It had been over six months and she still froze everytime someone called out her name. She still looked over her shoulder every day, thinking the person behind her, that anyone she didn't recognize was following her. She still wondered if every person knew about her, that they knew him and that they were looking for her for Gabe.

She knew that she did and she hated that she didn't know how to stop. She hated that he still had power over her, that he was in her every thought and controlled her like this, even though she was millions of miles away from him.

And now she stood in front of the bathroom mirrow with a pair of scissors in her hand.

The blonde hair fell to the floor in long strands. This wasn't her. This blonde hair was a blanket to hide under. Another blanket, like her uniform, her armor, her military training. She wasn't like this. She used to be stronger. Before he broke her, she was stronger. And she was going to be again. Cutting her hair was just the first step. With every wisp of hair that she cut off, a part of her past fell to the floor, or at least that how it felt to her. She didn't forget what had happened, but she felt like she finally could leave it behind, let the past be past. It wasn't going to control her like it used to. Avery knew it wasn't going to be easy, but living in constant fear that Gabe would find her wasn't the life she wanted to live. Not when she didn't even know if he might have stopped looking for her.

The first step away from that was to cut her hair. She'd wanted to do it for years, but Gabe wouldn't allow her. Now she did it. Because she wanted to.

Because she was free.

Her silver eyes scanned over every inch of the warship.

It was designed by both turians and humans. And not only was it one of a kind, but also the most advanced space vessel in Alliance space. Maybe in the whole galaxy even. And she was now a part of it's crew.

Avery shifted the weight of her small pack hanging over her shoulder and started walking towards the man that stood waiting for her by the airlock.

"Shepard, I presume?" he said, but it didn't really sound like a question. He stretched out his hand to greet her.

"Yes sir," she answered and shook his hand. His shake was a firm and steady one. "It's an honor to be able to serve on the Normandy under you, Captain Anderson."

"She's a beauty, isn't she?" He looked out over the ship and so did she.

"That she is."

Anderson turned to her again. "I've read your file, Shepard. You'll fit in just fine with the rest of the crew."

It didn't sound like he just said it to make her feel more comfortable or relaxed, but like the captain actually meaned it. And she had no doubt that he wouldn't say anything just to comfort one of hur subordinates.

"Thank you, sir."

"Then let me be the first to welcome you to the Normandy." He turned and started walking into the ship, not waiting for her to follow him inside.

She gave him a quick nod and hurried her steps to get inside as well.

After all those years of training and working hard on different ships with different commanding officers, teams and crews, it felt like this might be it. This was where she belonged. This was home.

The SSV Normandy.


	3. Chapter 2 Bonus

Avery stared at her reflection in the mirror. Cutting her own hair wasn't as easy as she had thought it would be. It was no way near easy.

To be honest... her hair now looked like a birds nest.

"Your hair looks like crap Shep."

She jerked at the sudden sound of a man speaking to her, but calmed down once she saw who it was.

"Don't sneak up on me like that Hart."

He chuckled as he approached her. "Sorry."

She smiled back at him as her body relaxed. Hart was one of the few people here that she... not trusted really, not yet anyway, but felt comfortable around. He'd never been one of those who talked behind her back. Neither was he one of those who was nice to her only to flirt with her later just because of the way she looked. He took her seriously, and treated her like a person rather than an object. He treated her like a friend.

"Besides, this is the women's shower compartment. What are you doing here?"

"It's in the middle of the night. I figured this place would be empty."

She raised an eyebrow. "And if it was? What would you do then? Take a shower?"

"You got me there." Hart smirked. "Actually, I was just passing by on the way to the men's compartment when I heard someone - you, I suppose - cursing worse than a sailor. And then I found you here, looking like someone went rampage on your hair with a... I don't know what."

"I know..." Avery sighed and turned back to the mirror. "I don't suppose that you happen to secretly be an awesome hairdresser?"

"No, I'm afraid not. I use an electric shaver." He pointed to the short stubble of hair that was his hairdo.

She looked back into the mirror, running a hand through her bleached, unevenly cut hair before turning to him again.

"Could I borrow it?"

"What? My electric shaver?" he laughed, thinking that she couldn't be serious about shaving her head, but realized soon that she didn't look like she was joking. "Are you sure Shep?"

"It can't get any worse than this" she laughed.

Hart chuckled, "You're damned right about that!" He looked at her for a moment. "Alright, come with me and we'll get the shaver."

She gave him a quick nod before following him, quickly grabbing her towel and the pair of scissors that she'd brought with her.

"Hey Hart?"

He looked back at her over his shoulder. "Yeah?"

"Thanks."

He smirked. "No problem Shep. Just let me do it. You clearly shouldn't get anywhere near anything that cuts hair."

Avery laughed. "Deal."


	4. Chapter 3

How many years had passed since then? Three years? Four? It had been almost four years since she left Earth and joined the Alliance military and now she was being rewarded with the Star of Terra for her efforts on Elysium. Though efforts was perhaps the wrong word. She hadn't done everything she could to save the human colony when it was attacked by pirates, slavers and batarian warlords. No. Avery rallied the civilians to defend their home and when the attackers broke through their defenses, she singlehandedly fought them off until backup arrived.

It had been almost four years and she was now viewed as a hero of humanity, being rewarded with the Star of Terra for 'courageous and distinguished service that is above and beyond the call of duty'. She singlehandedly fought of slavers and pirates and she was still afraid. Her heart was pounding hard inside her chest the entire ceremony for fear that she would find his face in the crowd. That this was all helping him find her again. That this would be over and she would return to the life she used to have.

Four years had passed. She didn't even know if he was still alive or not, but it was as if he still had power over her. Not as much as he used to, she wasn't constantly looking over her shoulder to find him before he could find her, but he was always in the back of her mind. He had enough power to make her uncomfortable in big crowds of unknown people, even though she had no reason to be.

Rather than staying in the spotlight at this ceremony and being congratulated, having her first day off in a really long time, she wanted to be back in space, back on the ship she served on. Somewhere between stars. Some place where he couldn't ever find her. She would rather have to fight another battle like the Skyllian Blitz, if she had to choose between that or possibly running into him.

Gabriel Moore.

She smiled and excused herself from the group of people standing around her, stepped outside for a moment to get some air, to get away from the crowd and be along for a while.

Avery hated this. How long was she going to be scared of him? How much longer was she going to be affected of what he did to her? Why couldn't she just leave the past behind her?

"Shepard-san."

She turned around, recognized the person approaching her as Keitari Endoh, a woman that enlisted at the same time she did, a woman that she had also served with on different ships. A woman known for always putting the mission ahead of everything else, who cared little for anyone, and even less for her.

"Endoh." She never did understand those Japanese suffixes.

The two women stood quiet for a while. The Asian woman hadn't changed much since they last served together, looking almost the same. When they first met, Avery had mistaken her for a man with her broad shoulders and being just as tall as any other man on the station. Even her face was very androgynous, and her shoulder length black hair was always pulled back in tightly in her neck.

Keitari took one step forward, towards her, her posture military strict, hands behind her back and her head held high. Her black eyes fixed on Avery, not looking away for even a moment.

"Good job on Elysium" she finally said then, "You saved a lot of lives."

It surprised her that Endoh was actually praising her. Endoh of all people. She had always acted like she hated her more than anything. And during their time training together, she'd been anything but nice towards her.

"I just did what anyone of us would've done."

"I'm not saying that any Alliance soldier wouldn't have at least tried to do the same as you did, but if you hadn't been there, a lot of civilians would have died."

She gave her a nod. She was right. If she hadn't been there, things would've ended a lot worse than they did.

"I never would've thought that you could earn the Star of Terra," Endoh continued, "I didn't even think you'd get through the military training."

"I'm glad I proved you wrong."

Again none of the women spoke and the only sound to be heard was the chatter coming from inside the building.

"You're an example for all of humanity, Shepard-san. You're stronger than most and your determination will get you a long way." She paused. "If you don't let anything keep you back."

And then she turned, walking inside again, leaving Avery alone with her thoughts again.

i'If you don't let anything keep you back.'/i

Keitari was right. She could do even greater things than what she had done on Elysium. She was only twenty-one; she had her whole life ahead of her. And if she wanted to move on from this point, she needed to leave her past behind her. She needed to let it go.

The past had passed and she couldn't change that. Gabe didn't deserve all that time she spent thinking about him. Not anymore. She had a new life now and she wouldn't let him ruin it too. She wasn't going to let him keep her from her own celebration.

She should thank Endoh for helping her realize this, but not tonight.

Avery walked back inside again with a smile on her lips.


	5. Chapter 4

This was bad.

"A small strike team can move in quickly and secure the beacon."

"Grab your gear and meet us in the cargo hold."

Avery couldn't tear her eyes away from the screen in the debriefing room. The size of that ship… impossible. She didn't think a ship that big would able to land on a planet, and yet this one did.

"Tell Alenko and Jenkins to suit up, Commander, you're going in."

She gave a quick nod to Captain Anderson before looking back to the screen. To say that something wasn't right was an understatement. This was supposed to be a simple shakedown run and now it turned into a full-fledged mission that would be anything but simple.

And as if that wasn't enough, now she wouldn't be able to stop thinking about what the Captain and Nihlus said right before they got the message from Eden Prime.

They wanted to make her a Spectre? And not only that, she was to become the ifirst/i human Spectre. Was she really ready for that?

Avery turned around to get Jenkins and Alenko, thoughts racing through her mind.

Yes. She was ready. They wouldn't even consider her if they didn't think she could handle it. And this really wasn't the time to focus on anything but the mission.

"Jenkins, grab your gear and suit up" she told the soldier, "Captain Anderson needs us to be ready for fighting an assault on Eden Prime."

"An attack, Commander?"

"Yes." She hurried past him to the cockpit to find Alenko. Hopefully he hadn't left since she were there a few minutes ago. When this mission was still just an ordinary mission.

"Alenko?"

"Commander?"

"Suit up. We're going in."

"Yes Commander."

Jenkins was dead. Nihlus too. Williams whole squad as well as more civilians than she wanted to think about. And if that dock worker - Powell was his name - if he was telling the truth, it was a turian Spectre that was behind it all. A rouge Spectre that had joined sides with the geth. If she hadn't fought the geth herself, she wouldn't have believed it. But it was true.

And it was all because of this beacon. This Prothean artifact, left here on this planet 50,000 years ago by a species they knew little about. And they didn't know what kind of information this beacon contained.

But it didn't matter now. The past was past and nothing she could do would change that.

"Normandy, the beacon is secure." Avery turned around to see that there wasn't any more geth coming from behind them. "Request immediate evac."

"This is amazing! Actual working Prothean technology."

"It wasn't doing anything like that when they dug it up."

She could hear the two Alliance soldiers talking in the background. "Roger Normandy, standing by."

Shepard turned around as she saw Williams approach her in the corner of her eye. Gunnery Chief Williams was lucky. Her entire squad had been killed in the attack and she was the only survivor. A part of her wished that they would've gotten there sooner so that they'd been able to help more people than Ashley and the few civilians that they'd found. Williams probably wished the same.

And then... Kaidan started walking towards the beacon. No. It didn't look like he was walking towards it, more like he was being pulled to it.

iDamn it!/i

She hurried to him, grabbing him by his waist to get him out of the way. And then she felt it. Being pulled in by the beacon.

Images flooded her mind, fast. Memories of something long lost. Of war.

It felt like she was going to explode, the vision pulsing through every inch of her body, leaving the scars of another's mind in her own memories.

The images kept coming and coming, it never ended.

And then it did. A loud thunder and everything went dark.

"Doctor? Doctor Chakwas, I think she's waking up."

Shepard slowly opened her eyes, the world still a blur around her as she sat up.

"You had us worried there, Shepard."

She rubbed her template before looking at the Medical Officer, her focus becoming gradually better.

"How are you feeling?"

She shook her head slowly. "Just minor throbbing, nothing serious. How long was I out?"

"About 15 hours" the doctor replied, "I think something must have happened with the beacon."

Avery leaned her head into her hand as she remembered the massage from the Prothean artifact, the vision, the dream, whatever she was supposed to call it.

"Physically you're fine" Chakwas assured her, "But I detected some abnormal beta-waves. I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs typically associated with intense dreaming."

"I was" she answered, "But it was more like a nightmare. I'm not sure what I saw. Death, destruction."

Chakwas looked at her for a moment, "I better add this to my report."

"Captain Anderson."

Avery turned to the Lieutenant, looking at him for not more than a second before she turned her head to Normandy's Commanding Officer. He a tall man, his shoulders broad and when he walked into the room his presence commanded that every man and woman would listen to his orders. You could see that he had year of experience of leading soldiers, and he was good at it too. She respected the man greatly, and she had read his files more than once. His record was impressing.

"How's our XO holding up?"

"All the readings are normal. I'd say that the Commander is going to be fine."

"Glad to hear it." Anderson turned to her. "Shepard, I need to speak with you. In private." He looked at the two other present in the room.

"Aye aye Captain" Kaidan responded, "I'll be in the mess if you need me."

They stayed quiet until both Alenko and Dr. Chakwas was out from the room.

"You said you wanted to speak with me?"

He gave her a quick nod. "I won't lie to you, Shepard, things are looking bad."

That much she already knew.

"Nihlus is dead, the beacon was destroyed and geth are invading. The Council's going to want answers."

"I did my job, sir. The geth would've wiped out the entire colony if I didn't stop them." She straightened herself, "Hopefully the Council will see that."

Anderson turned his back to her. "I stand by your report. You're a damned hero in my book, Shepard." He looked over his shoulder at her for a second before turning back, pausing for a moment. "But that's not why I'm here. It's Saren, that other turian." He turned to her again. "Saren's a Spectre, one of the best. A living legend."

And that wasn't good. Why would a Spectre ally himself with the geth? What was Saren after? And how would they be able to convince the Council that one of their best agents was working with the geth?

This just got worse each minute that passed.

"But if he's working with the geth, it means he's gone rouge" the captain continued. "A rouge Spectre is trouble. Saren's dangerous." A short pause. "And he hates humans."

"But he didn't come to Eden Prime because he hates humans" she replied.

"You're right." Anderson looked at her, and she could see that he was clenching his jaw. "He's allied himself with the geth. I don't know how, I don't know why. I only know it has something to do with that beacon."

Avery gave him a quick nod in agreement. She had no idea how Saren found out about the Prothean artifact, but however he did and whatever that vision told her, Saren was after the beacon.

"You were there just before the beacon self-destructed. Did you see anything?"

She shook her head. "No, but I..." She paused. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. A dream of something."

"A vision?" he repeated, almost as if he doubted her and she couldn't blame him for doing so. "A vision of what?"

Shepard leaned against the sickbed, crossing her arms over her chest, remembering the dream. "I saw synthetics, geth maybe, slaughtering people." She took a breath. "Butchering them."

"We need to report this to the Council."

She looked up at Anderson as if he was crazy, "And tell them what? That I had a bad dream?"

"We don't know what kind of information was stored in that beacon, Shepard, but whatever it was... Saren took it." He locked his eyes on her. "But I know Saren. He believes humans are a blight on the galaxy. This attack was an act of war."

Avery took a deep breath, watching her superior pace back and forth.

"He has the secrets from the beacon, he has an army of geth at his command, and he won't stop until he's wiped humanity from the face of the galaxy."

Not if she had anything to say about it. "There must be some way that we can take him down."

Anderson shook his head. "It's not that easy, Shepard. He's a Spectre. He can go anywhere, do almost anything. That's why we need the Council on our side."

She straightened herself again, giving him a nod. "We prove to the Council that Saren's gone rouge and they will revoke his Spectre status."

"I'll contact the ambassador and see if he can get us an audience with the Council. He'll want to see us as soon as we reach the Citadel - We should be getting close."

He turned around and started walking out from the Med Bay. "Head up to the bridge and tell Joker to bring us in to dock."

"Yes sir."

She followed a few steps behind him.

Avery didn't know much about this Saren, and she had no idea why he wanted the beacon or what he planned to do. But whatever it was, it wasn't good. And she intended to put a stop to it.


	6. Chapter 5

Her first impression of the Council... it could've been better, to say the least.

Their words echoed in head mind.

i'There's not enough evidence.'/i

The Council would listen to her warnings about Saren working with the geth, about being behind the attack on the human colony Eden Prime, because 'a traumatized dockworkers word' was not enough evidence for them.

She didn't care that this whole event had jeopardized her candidacy for the Spectres, but what got to her was that they didn't even bother finishing their own investigation of the turian Spectre. Avery wondered if they even bothered to ask Saren himself where he was during the attack. Apparently they were naive enough to believe that if he was guilty, then he would just simply confess when confronted.

But if they wanted evidence, then she would get them whatever proof they needed to be convinced that their honored Spectre was guilty. That he was planning something bigger than just an attack on a human colony out in the Terminus Systems. He was a traitor of the Council and there must be some way to prove that he was working with the geth to the Councilors. And if anyone knew anything, it would be that C-Sec officer that had been investigating Saren - and from what he told her, it wasn't that he hadn't found anything, the Council just wouldn't give him enough time to investigate him more thoroughly.

Shepard couldn't believe that the Council closed the investigation not even a day after the attack.

She looked at her subordinates. "Let's go find Vakarian."

Harkin's an ass.

Since she joined the N7 nobody had commented her looks. Not the way he did anyway. Actually, nobody had made a comment like that to her since she'd been rewarded with the Star of Terra after the Skyllian Blitz.

It would've been easy for her to beat the ever living hell out of him, and it would've been nice to do so as well, but it accomplished nothing. And she was better than getting provoked by some drunken former C-Sec officer.

"Why didn't Captain Anderson tell us that he used to be a Spectre?" It was Ashley voicing her disapproval of not knowing anything about their commanding officer having been a part of the Special Tactics and Recon.

"It's most likely not true, Williams," Avery replied, walking in a fast pace to hopefully be able to get to Garrus before he left Dr. Michel's med clinic on the other side of the wards.

"Yeah," the lieutenant joined their conversation, "Harkin's an ass. I bet he's just messing with our heads."

"If Captain Anderson had been a Spectre, there'd been no way to hide it, no matter how sort he'd been one. Maybe he used to be a candidate to become one, but that doesn't matter now."

The Gunnery Chief let out a groan. "You're probably right. Still, I'd like to hear what the captain has to say about it."

"Another time, Williams. We have other things to deal with first."

"Yes ma'am."

"I didn't tell anyone, I swear it!"

"Smart move."

Avery hurried into the clinic, her Striker already drawn with the barrel pointing to the thug. She could see a turian, one she recognized as Garrus Vakarian, crouching behind a corner, ready to attack when he got the chance.

"Now if Garrus comes around, you- Who are you?"

The man grabbed Dr. Michel to shield himself when he spotted Shepard, but as he turned towards her, he left his back open, giving Garrus the opportunity to take him down.

The fight was over quickly. The remaining thugs barely had the time to react to their leader's death before Avery took them down as well. In her experience, the best advantage you could have was surprise. Luck and surprise.

"Good timing Shepard" Vakarian said as he holstered his gun, "Gave me a clear shot at that bastard."

She holstered her weapon as well. "Glad I could help. Dr. Michel, are you hurt?"

"I'm okay," the doctor replied, speaking with an accent, "Thanks to you. All of you."

"Do you have any idea why they were threatening you?"

She nodded. "They work for Fist. They wanted to shut me up, keep me from telling Garrus about that quarian."

"What quarian?"

"A few days ago a quarian came to my office. She'd been shot, but she wouldn't tell me who did it," her eyes travelled from Shepard to Garrus and then back again, "I could tell she was scared, probably on the run. She wanted to know about the Shadow Broker, she said she wanted to trade information for a safe place to hide."

"Where is she now?"

The doctor slowly shook her head as she lowered it, "I put her in contact with Fist. He's an agent for the Shadow Broker."

"Not anymore," Garrus said, "Now he works for Saren, and the Shadow Broker isn't too happy about that."

"He betrayed the Shadow Broker?" Dr. Michel looked over to the turian, "That's stupid even for him. Saren must've made quite the offer."

"That quarian must have something Saren wants."

Avery cursed under her breath. "Evidence."

"She must have proof liking Saren to the geth!" Ashley intervened.

"Which means she's in trouble if Fist gets to her" Kaidan said. "We have to find her soon."

Shepard gave him a quick nod. "Let's get to it."

"This is your show Shepard," Garrus said, and Avery turned around towards him again, "But I want to bring Saren down as much as you do. I'm coming with you!"

She looked at him for no longer than a moment, before she nodded to him to follow, "We'll need all the help we can get."

"Then I suggest we head over to C-Sec Academy."

She raised an eyebrow. "C-Sec?"

"The Shadow Broker hired a krogan bounty hunter named Wrex to take Fist down."

Shepard remembered seeing him at Chora's Den just before they talked to Harkin. They could certainly use more allies, and a krogan would make a good one, especially if he already knew about Saren.

"Why would he be at C-Sec?"

"Fist accused him of making threats in his bar, so we took him in to have a little talk with him. If we hurry, we might be able to catch him before he leaves."

"Alright." Avery turned to Ashley, "Williams."

"Yes Commander?"

"Find Captain Anderson and the ambassador, update them."

For a moment, she could see that the soldier was displeased with the order, but they both knew she wasn't in a position to refuse, "Yes ma'am."

She turned to Vakarian and Alenko, "Let's hope Wrex is still at C-Sec." Avery looked over to the doctor, "Take care, Dr. Michel."

"You too, Commander."

With that, they left the med clinic. Neither of them said anything, Ashley soon separating from the rest of the group as they were heading towards the elevator taking them to C-Sec Academy while she was heading back to the Presidium and the human embassy.

Hopefully finding Wrex and this quarian would be simple. Hopefully the quarian did have evidence connecting Saren to the geth, at least enough to convince the Council. Because this was the only chance Avery had of proving Saren's guilt and if she failed… there would soon be a war, or worse.


	7. Chapter 6

"Where did you say you saw Wrex, Garrus?"

Avery turned halfway around to the turian, but before he could answer, she turned around again, looking in the direction of two men arguing.

"Witnesses saw you making threats in Fist's bar. Stay away from him, Wrex."

"I don't take orders from you."

"I think we've found our guy," Shepard said and started walking toward the C-Sec officer and the krogan.

"Do you want me to arrest you?"

"I want you to try," the krogan said, almost laughing, if Shepard was going to guess. But she wasn't willing to bet on it, though...

Then the krogan saw her. He walked past the C-Sec officer to her and her group, not stopping until he stood right in front of her.

There weren't a lot of things that made Avery nervous, but a dinosaur-like species, almost a foot taller than herself, who was a tall human to begin with, weighing almost a ton... It was the first time she planning to talk to one, and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't hoping that he wasn't out for a fight.

"Do I know you, human?" his voice rumbled.

He hadn't tried to crush her yet, so that was good. "I'm Shepard and I'm going after Fist. I thought you might want to come along."

"Shepard," he said, "Commander Shepard? I've heard a lot about you."

_Only good things I hope._

"We're both warriors, Shepard. Out of respect I'm giving you a fair warning..."

She leaned back with her arms crossing her chest, as Wrex leaned in closer to her.

"I'm going to kill Fist."

"Fist knows you're coming," Garrus said, drawing the attention of the krogan, "We'll have a better chance if we all work together."

"My people have a saying," Wrex said and pulled away after a moment, "Seek the enemy of your enemy, and you will find a friend."

Shepard relaxed, reaching out a hand to the krogan, which he grabbed, "Glad to have you on the team, Wrex."

"Let's go," he replied, and let go of her hand, "I'd hate to keep Fist waiting."

She turned to the other two, giving Garrus a nod to call for a skycar to pick them up. Then she let out a sigh of relief as Wrex passed her, smirking as she saw the worried expression of the lieutenant.

"Calm down, Alenko," Avery said, patting his shoulder, "If Wrex was out to kill us he'd done it by now. I doubt that he wouldn't be able to if he really wanted to."

Kaidan sighed, "That's what I'm worried about."

They arrived at Chora's Den not more than just a few minutes after they picked up Wrex at the C-Sec Academy.

"It looks like it shut down."

"They know we're coming."

Wrex took the words right out of her mouth. It wasn't more than a few hours ago that she'd been there, asking that former C-Sec officer, Harkin, about Garrus. Not more than a few hours since his comment made her want to warp his ass back to the Stone Age.

Shepard pulled out her weapon, signaling the others to do the same, "Be ready."

They moved quickly towards the bar, Avery going first. The fight was on them as soon as the door slid open.

Their small group was outnumbered, four against at least a dozen mercs, probably more. But these hired men wore barely any armor, and their weapons barely did any damage to their shields. They didn't stand a chance against the two Alliance soldiers, the C-Sec officer and the krogan bounty hunter. Shepard and her team got through them in not more than two minutes.

She moved to the door on the other side of the bar, leading further into Chora's Den, and – hopefully – to Fist, and the other three coming right behind her.

"Stop right there!"

Avery almost shot them two before the sentence had been finished. She held her hand up, signaling to the others to hold their fire.

She lowered her weapon, "Look, I don't want to kill you."

The two men glanced at each other before looking back at her, not backing down.

She sighed, "We already got through all those mercs waiting for us out there in the bar. You two won't even be able to aim straight at me before you're dead." She noticed how they both flinched as she moved, taking a step to the side. She nodded towards the door.

"You should get out of here."

Shepard could practically hear their hearts pounding for a moment, before they put down their guns and hurried past her and her team.

"Would've been faster just to kill them," Wrex said as they continued further in to get to Fist.

"Killing people isn't always the answer," her fellow human replied and she could feel the corner of her mouth pulling into a smile.

"I won't kill someone if unless they give me no other option," she said, "Especially not if they're just two storage workers getting caught at the wrong place, at the wrong time."

The krogan grunted, not really agreeing with her. "Let's go find Fist – He's waited long enough."

Shepard nodded as she took cover at the side of the last door, "Agreed."

"His office is just past this door."

"Be ready, and stay in as much cover as you can," she said to the three of them, "We don't know if he's got more mercs with him or any other surprises waiting for us. I don't want you to take any risks."

Kaidan and Garrus nodded, the krogan replied with another grunt.

She hit the button to open the door, "Move out!"

Avery was the first one through the door, and she barely got a glimpse of her surroundings before the automated turrets started firing, forcing her to find cover.

"Alenko, overload those turrets!"

"On it!"

"As am I, Commander," Garrus said as well, the two turrets soon going down in explosions.

She could see Wrex already getting to Fist, with a shotgun in his hand, and she prayed that he wasn't about to blow a hole through the man.

But it seemed like Fist was the stupid one, trying to charge past the krogan to get out, and was knocked to the floor with a single hit with the bounty hunter's shotgun.

Avery aimed her weapon at Fist, who was squirming in pain from the blow he took to the face.

"Where is the quarian?"

"What?" he groaned, looking at her, blood running from his cracked lip, "I have no idea of what you're talking about!"

"I'll make this simple for you," Shepard said through barred teeth, "Either you tell me what I want to know, or Wrex here is going to shorten your lifespan significantly."

Fist glanced at the krogan for no longer than a second before nodding, "Alright, alright. I'll talk."

"Good. Where is the quarian?"

She hadn't expected Wrex to actually kill Fist once he told them where they would find the quarian. He told her he would when they first met, but she hadn't thought that he was serious. The man had surrendered and given them the information they needed. She would've left him there; she would've let C-Sec handle it. At least now she knew that he finished whatever job he was hired to do.

But Shepard didn't have any time to think about that now. That quarian would be dead if they didn't get to her soon. They were getting close now though, if Fist had told them the truth. It was just up this stair, then-

A grenade exploded.

_Damn it!_

She rushed to the place where the explosion came from, hoping to find something other than the corpse of the one person in the galaxy that could help her prove to the Council that Saren was a traitor.

The scene was a battlefield. Which meant that the quarian was still alive.

When Saren's assassins noticed her, they attacked.

But these weren't just the average street thugs. They had better equipment, their armor was thicker, and their weapons did more damage. Her shields were already down by half, and there was no where she could take cover.

She knew that Saren wasn't going to just sit back and wait for her to take him down, but how could he be one step ahead of them all the time? Just how long had this really been going on?

But the assassins were outnumbered, three to five, and the fight didn't last long, fortunately. Just a few more shots and they would've taken down her shields.

"Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!"

Avery turned around, looking at the woman. She'd never met a quarian before, and she knew little about them. She hadn't realized that they had to wear enviro-suits.

Shepard holstered her pistol.

"Are you alright?"

The quarian turned to her, "I know how to look after myself."

Avery gave her a nod and a smile.

"Not that I don't appreciate the help," the quarian continued, "Who are you?"

"I'm Commander Shepard," she introduced herself.

"I'm Tali" the woman replied, "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

"I was looking for you," Shepard said, postponing the pleasantries for when she knew they wasn't going to get caught by more of Saren's assassins, for after she had the evidence she needed to prove his betrayal.

"I hear you can prove that Saren has betrayed the Council."

The quarian gave her a nod, "Then I have a chance to repay you for saving my life."

"Commander, we should get somewhere safe."

She turned to Kaidan, nodding in agreement.

"We should get to the Human Embassy," Garrus interjected, "Your Ambassador will want to see this anyway."

"You're right," she answered, "The sooner we get this to the Council, the better."

"Firefights in the Wards?"

Oh great. Just what she was hoping for; yelling.

"An all-out assault on Chora's Den?"

Avery sighed, shaking her head as she entered the room, waiting for the Ambassador to finish his ranting. Behind her followed her companions. The human staff lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, whom she exchanged an exhausted glance with. The krogan bounty hunter Wrex, who grunted like he wanted to shut Udina up permanently - and she thought about letting him for almost a second. Garrus, the turian C-Sec officer, finally having the evidence to prove Saren's betrayal to the Council. And lastly, the newest companion, the quarian Tali'Zorah, who had the proof of the turian Spectre's betrayal.

"Do you know how many-?" The Ambassador stopped talking once he saw the quarian. "Who is this? A quarian?" He turned to Avery. "What are you up to Shepard"?

Shepard straightened herself, placing her hands behind her back, "You wanted proof that Saren's a traitor." She looked over to Tali, "This is it."

Udina shook his head, turning to the quarian, "Really? Perhaps you'd like to start at the beginning, Miss…?"

"My name is Tali. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." The woman took a few steps forward, stopping at Shepard's side.

"We don't see many quarians here." Looks like the Ambassador could turn on his diplomatic side when he wanted to. Or at least when he needed to. "Why did you decide to leave the flotilla?"

"I was on my pilgrimage, my rite of passage into adulthood" she explained, "It's a tradition among my people."

Though Avery had always loved learning about new cultures and other races, she knew that they didn't have the time to talk about this right now. Every minute they spent doing something else, Saren had time to get away, to attack another colony, to use his Spectre status and resources, making it harder to stop him from whatever he was planning to do.

"What about Saren?" she asked, "What kind of evidence do you have against him?"

"During my travels I started hearing reports about geth," her omni-tool became apparent on her left arm as she seemed to be looking for data on it, "The geth has never ventured beyond the Veil since they drove us into exile. I got curious, so I tracked a patrol of geth to an uncharted world, and I waited for one of them to get separated from the group. I disabled it, and removed its memory core."

Shepard watched her as she worked on the omni-tool, and then she could hear a voice beginning to speak.

"Eden Prime was a major victory."

She recognized the voice.

_Saren!_

"That's Saren's voice!"

Avery turned to Anderson, giving him a nod.

This was just the proof that they needed! This was him admitting to being behind the attack on the human colony! The Council had to listen to them now. With this, they had to know that Saren needed to be stopped!

"The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."

"This proves he was involved in the attack!"

_The Conduit?_

"He said that the beacon brought him closer to finding 'the Conduit'," Avery looked at her group for answers, finally turning to Anderson again, "Any idea what that means?"

Her Captain shook his head, "No. But the Conduit must have something to do with the beacon, maybe some kind of Prothean technology."

_Or a Prothean weapon._

"Wait, there's more," Tali interjected, "Saren wasn't working alone."

Once again she reactivated the audio file.

"Eden Prime was a major victory. The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

"I don't recognize that other voice, the one talking about 'Reapers'," the Ambassador said, leaning his chin into one of his hands.

"I feel like I've heard that name before."

"According to the memory core, the Reapers were a hyper advanced machine race…"

Pain washed over her body like a wave, leaving her head throbbing, and she could feel her body shaking. Her mind was filled with images of war and destruction as she remembered her nightmare.

Shepard felt a hand on her shoulder and she opened her eyes, noticing Kaidan looking at her with confusion.

She smiled and shook her head, to assure him that there was nothing wrong with her. Though she felt her heart pounding harder than usual, and the smile lingered at the idea that he was concerned for her sake. But this was not the time to think about that.

"…and then they vanished. At least, that's what the geth think."

Udina shook his head in disbelief, "Sounds a little far-fetched."

"No," Avery said, directed at the Ambassador, now that the memories of the nightmare was far away enough for her to relax again, "The vision from the beacon on Eden Prime, I can understand it now. I saw the Protheans being wiped out by the Reapers."

"The geth revere the Reapers as Gods," Tali interjected, and Shepard turned her attention to her, "The pinnacle of non-organic life."

"And they believe that Saren is going to bring them back."

Udina sighed, "The Council is just going to love this…"

"They have to know!" she almost growled at him, "The Reapers are a threat to every species in Citadel space!"

"No matter what they think about the rest of this," Anderson said, slightly more calm than she had been, but not by much, "Those audio files prove that Saren is a traitor."

"The Captain is right; we need to present this to the Council right away."

She felt her heart sigh of relief. Finally they would prove Saren's guilt and then the Council would put an end to whatever he was planning. They would be able to stop him before he could bring back the Reapers. They would see the threat that he was - what kind of destruction that would threaten the entire galaxy.

"Anderson and I will go on ahead to get thing ready with the Council," Udina said, the Captain giving him a nod, "Take a few minutes to collect yourself and meet us in the tower when you are ready, Commander."

Shepard replied with a nod, watching the two men leave the room.

"What about me, Shepard?" the quarian asked, "You saw what I can do in that alley. Let me come with you."

She remembered the fight, and she had to admit that she didn't expect the quarian to be that skilled. She wasn't the best Shepard had seen, but she was far from being the worst. "What about your pilgrimage?"

"The pilgrimage proves that we are willing to give of ourselves for the greater good," Tali said, "What does it say about me if I turn my back on this? Take me with you Commander."

Avery gave her a quick nod. "Alright, Tali. I guess I will need all the help I can get."

"Thanks," she took a few steps closer to Shepard, "You won't regret this."

She smiled, "I'm sure I won't."

Shepard then turned around, facing the rest of her companions. "Let's get to the tower then."


	8. Chapter 7

As Shepard quickly climbed the steps she could hear Anderson talking to her.

"Udina Is already presenting the evidence to the Council."

They hurried up the last few steps, over to where the Ambassador was standing, and she could once more here the recorded voice of Saren."

"Eden Prime was a major victory."

With this, the turian would be exposed for the traitor he was. The Council wouldn't be able to deny the threat he was to the security of the galaxy, and they'd have to help them.

"The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

They all waited in silence for what the councilors would say. Avery could see the three aliens exchange glances with each other before the turian councilor turned to them.

"This evidence is irrefutable, Ambassador," he said and Shepard felt like a weight has been lifted off her chest. Finally they'd be able to stop Saren and the geth from attacking anymore of the human colonies.

"Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status and all efforts will be made to bring him in to answer for his crimes."

A sigh of relief escaped her as she turned to look at her companions. Only Alenko and Tali had followed her all the way to see the Council. They'd passed Williams on the way up the stairs though, and that's where Garrus and Wrex were waiting too, well within hearing range from them.

"I recognize the other voice, the one speaking with Saren," the asari councilor said then, looking at her colleagues, "Matriarch Benezia."

"Who is she?" The words slipped Shepard's lips before she had time to give them a second thought.

"Matriarch Benezia is a powerful biotic, and she has many followers" the asari said, "Matriarchs are asari who has entered the final stages of their lives, and serve as mentors to my people. She will make a formidable ally for Saren."

"I am more interested in the Reapers." It was the salarian councilmember who spoke next, turning to Shepard and her companions. "What do you know about them?"

"Only what was extracted from the geth's memory core," Anderson replied, "The Reapers were an ancient race of machines that wiped out the Protheans. Then they vanished."

Avery gave a short nod in agreement, turning to the Council, "The geth revere the Reapers as Gods. And Saren is the prophet of their return."

"We think that the Conduit is the key to bringing them back. Saren is searching for it, and that's why he attacked Eden Prime."

"Do we even know what this Conduit is?"

"Does it matter?" she asked, "Saren thinks it can bring back the Reapers, and that's bad enough!"

"Listen to what you're saying!" the turian councilor yelled at her, at them all, "Saren wants to bring back a machine that wiped out all life in the galaxy? Impossible. It has to be!"

Shepard balled her hands into fists by her side, but kept quiet.

"Where did the Reapers go? Why did they vanish? How come we've found no evidence for their existence?"

She couldn't believe it. They had all heard what Saren and the Matriarch said! They had all heard their plans to bring back the Reapers. How could they still doubt her?

"If they were read, we'd found something!"

"Better safe than sorry!" she almost roared at him, "I tried to warn you about Saren, and you refused to see the truth!" She took a breath to calm herself a bit, "Don't make the same mistake again."

"This is different, Commander" the asari said, her voice a lot calmer than both her own, as well as the turian councilors, "You proved that Saren had betrayed the Council and we agree that he's using the geth to search for the Conduit, but we don't know why."

"But we do know why!" she burst out, "Fifty thousand years ago the Reapers wiped out all galactic civilization. If Saren finds the Conduit, it will happen again!"

The turian shook his head. "Saren is a rouge agent on the run for his life. He has no longer the rights or the resources of a Spectre."

"But he's not working alone!"

Shepard felt a hand on her arm, urging her to calm down, and she did.

"We know he's hiding somewhere in the Traverse, send in your fleet!" the ambassador shouted.

"A fleet cannot track down one man."

"A fleet could secure every colony; protect them if Saren and the geth try to attack us again!"

"Or it could trigger a war with the entire Terminus Systems."

"So you won't do anything?" she glowered as she looked at them one at a time, "Every time humanity asks for help, you just ignore us."

"Shepard is right," Udina joined in, "I'm sick of this Council and it's anti-human bulls-!"

"Ambassador," the asari interrupted before Udina could finish his sentence, "There is another solution. A way to stop Saren that doesn't require fleets or armies." She looked over to her turian colleague.

"No! It's too soon!" he argued, "Humanity is not ready for the responsibilities that come with joining the Spectres!"

"No," Shepard said, taking a step forward, "I'm ready. I faced Saren n Eden Prime, iI/i exposed him as a traitor. I've proved that I'm ready for this."

The silence filled the great hall as the councilors exchanged looks, thoughts, debating what to do, whether to let her become a part of the Spectres or not.

"Commander Shepard."

To be honest…

"Step forward."

Shepard took yet another step forward, she could hear people gathering, whispering around them, on the balconies over them.

"It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the power and privileges of the Special Tactics and Recognizance of the Citadel."

To be honest she never thought that they'd actually make her a Spectre!

"Spectres are not trained, but chosen" the turian councilor spoke, straightening himself, "Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle; those whose actions elevate them above rank and file."

Avery straightened herself as well, listening to every word spoken.

"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol."

As her eyes moved across the room, she saw several dozen of people gathering to witness the first human ever to be made Spectre. Humans, asari, salarians and turians.

"They are the embodiment of courage, determination and self-reliance."

She looked back at the Council members, to the salarian now talking.

"They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will."

"Spectres bear a great burden. They are the protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold."

"You are the first human Spectre, Commander," the asari offered her a slight smile, "This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species."

She lowered her head, bowing, "I'm honored, Councilor."

"We're sending you into the Traverse after Saren," the turian councilor said, and Avery turned her attention to him. "He's a fugitive from justice, so you are authorized to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him."

"I'll find him."

"This meeting of the Council is adjourned."

And so the Council withdrew, and the crowd scattered not long after. The others, as well as Avery, turned to walk towards the stairs, stopping when they reached them. She could see the Gunnery Chief coming up to meet with them, as well as Wrex and Garrus.

"Congratulations Commander," Anderson said, reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her, and she responded with a smile of her own before the ambassador interrupted the congratulations being given to her.

"We've got a lot of work to do Shepard," he said, "You're going to need a ship, a crew, supplies…" Udina turned to the Captain, "Anderson, come with me. I'll need your help to set all this up."

Anderson gave her a look, and she rolled her eyes in response, giving him a nod as the two men left, before turning to her companions, both the old ones and the new. They would all join her mission to bring in Saren and stopping him from bringing back the Reapers.

Tali was the first of them to break the silence.

"I thought the ambassador would be a little more grateful," she said, "He didn't even thank you."

"Yeah, well…" Avery replied with a smirk, "I haven't actually done anything yet."

"What are we waiting for, then?" Wrex said with his rumbling voice, "Let's go and give him something to thank you for."

Shepard chuckled, "Glad to see you so eager, Wrex." She glanced over to Kaidan, and his brown eyes met her silver ones. "Let's go."

"Aye aye ma'am."


	9. Chapter 8

The elevator up back to the Normandy was a lot more crowded than the ride down had been when they got to the Citadel. Granted, Anderson wasn't with them on this ride up, but there was three other people with Shepard besides Alenko and Williams. Well, to be honest, sharing an elevator with a krogan was like sharing an elevator with two people, at least. And the presence Wrex was giving off was making at least her fellow humans a bit uncomfortable. Shepard too, though the tension of the others made her relax, oddly enough.

"So…" Ashley was the one that broke the silence, "Spectre, huh?"

Shepard turned her head to look at the woman, "Yeah."

"How does it feel?"

She chuckled, "Right now it doesn't feel so different from yesterday."

The door to the elevator opened up and she saw Anderson and Udina standing next to the airlock to the Normandy.

"I'm guessing it'll feel different in a few minutes though."

Avery stepped out, the others following her as she walked up to the two men, both turning towards her.

"I've got big news for you, Shepard" Udina said, straightening himself a bit, "Captain Anderson is stepping down as the commanding officer of the Normandy. The ship is yours now."

She looked over to Anderson, "What are y-?"

"She's quick and quiet, and you know the crew," the captain interrupted her, "Perfect ship for a Spectre."

Shepard looked from him to Udina and back. The captain was stepping down?

"Treat her well, Commander."

No, he wouldn't step down. Not voluntarily. Anderson wouldn't do that. He was a soldier through and through and he wouldn't just leave.

"I want the truth," Avery said, looking at him, "Why are you stepping down, sir?"

"You needed a ship," he replied, "A Spectre can't answer to anyone but the Council, and it's time for me to step down."

She shook her head at him, "No. Be honest with me Captain."

He gave her a short nod, "I was in your shoes twenty years ago, Shepard. They were considering me for the Spectres."

She remembered that ex C-Sec officer talking about it. "What happened?"

"I failed."

So Harkin had been telling the truth. Not entirely the truth, but the Council had considered Anderson to become a Spectre. The first human Spectre.

"I couldn't make the cut, and it's not something I'm proud of," he looked over her shoulder to those standing behind her for a brief second before the turned his eyes back to her again, "Ask me later and I'll tell you the story. For now, all you need to know is that I was sent on a mission with Saren, and he made sure the Council rejected me."

iJust like he tried to do with me./i

"I had my shot. It came and went." Anderson straightened himself. "Now you have a chance to make up for my mistakes."

She gave him a quick nod. "I won't let you down, sir."

"Saren's gone, and I doubt that you'd find him even if you searched the entire Terminus Systems for him. But we know what he's after."

"The Conduit."

He nodded, "And he's got his geth scouring the Traverse for clues."

"We have reports of geth in the Feros system shortly before our colony there dropped out of contact," Udina joined in, "And there have been sightings around Noveria."

"Find out what Saren's after on Feros and Noveria. Maybe you can figure out where the Conduit is before he does."

"What about the Reapers?" She looked from Anderson to the ambassador and back to Anderson again, "They're the real threat."

"I'm with the Council on this one, Shepard."

Avery turned to Udina. He wasn't serious, was he?

"I'm not sure they even exist."

Why wouldn't they believe her? They all heard the audio clip, they all heard Saren and the Matriarch talking about the Reapers. "Wh-"

"But if they do exist," Anderson interrupted her again, "The Conduit is the key to bringing them back."

At least one person seemed to believe her. Believed the evidence.

"Stop Saren from finding the Conduit, Shepard," Anderson said, "And we stop the Reapers from returning."

A nod, "I'll stop him."

"We have one more lead."

Shepard turned to Udina.

"Matriarch Benezia, the other voice on the recording," he said, "She has a daughter, a scientist who specializes in in the Protheans, Dr. Liara T'soni."

That sounded like someone they could use. Or at least someone they didn't want to work with Saren. If she studied the Protheans, she could help him find the Conduit.

"We don't know if she's involved, but it might be a good idea to try and find her," Udina said, "See what she knows."

"Where is she?"

"We have reports she was exploring an archeological dig site on of the uncharted worlds in the Artemis Tau cluster."

"Then I'll start there," Avery proclaimed, looking back at her team, nodding in the direction of the ship to let them know that they could get on board the ship.

"It's your decision Commander," Anderson said, "You're a Spectre now, and you don't have to answer to us."

"Right," she chuckled. She wasn't used to not having to think about the chain of command. Shepard wondered how long it would take before she was. Weeks? Months?

"But your actions still reflect on humanity as a whole," Udina reminded her, giving her a glare almost, to warn her maybe to not do anything stupid? "You make a mess and I get stuck cleaning it up."

"I might have to," she simply replied, looking back at him.

Udina sighed.

"Remember, Shepard," he said, sounding anything but pleased, "You were a human long before you were a Spectre."

"I do."

He looked at her for a moment, before shaking his head and walking past her to head back to the embassies. Avery looked at her former commanding officer.

"Good luck Shepard, " he said, his lips curving into a slight smile, one she almost didn't notice before his expression turned stoic again, "I know you'll make humanity proud."

She smiled back at him, saluting him. "Thank you for your confidence, sir."


	10. Chapter 9

Shepard ran her fingers through her mahogany hair as she got into the ships elevator. The day had been… long. Proving Saren was a traitor, becoming a Spectre… but still not being able to convince the Council that the real threat wasn't Saren, or the geth, but the Reapers. At least not all mistrusted her. She had the crew. And she had her team, people who knew what she'd seen. Maybe they didn't know all the details, but they trusted her and that was all she needed them to do right now.

She stepped out from the elevator, her feet moving quickly as she climbs the steps up and passes through the CIC on her way to the cockpit. As she gets closer, her steps slow down before she stops, standing next to her pilot.

"I heard what happened to Captain Anderson" Joker said, looking up at her for a brief moment before turning his head back, continuing the ships start up. "Survives a hundred battles, and then gets taken down by backroom politics. Just watch your back Commander." He looks at her again, "Things go back on this mission, and you're next on the chopping block."

Avery shook her head, "This feels wrong. It's like I'm stealing the ship from Captain Anderson."

"Yeah, the Captain got screwed, but it's not like you could've stopped it," the pilot looked back to his screen, "Nobody's blaming you."

She knew that. But it didn't make it easier to bear. Because she knew that if she hadn't become a Spectre, Anderson would've been commanding officer of the Normandy, and not her.

"Everyone on this ship is behind you, Commander. One hundred percent."

Her lips curved into a smile.

"Intercom's open." Joker nodded to her. "If you've got anything you want to say to the crew, now's the time."

Avery nodded slowly, leaning against the co-pilot chair, trying to figure out what she wanted to say and how to word it.

"This is Commander Shepard speaking." She exchanged glances with Jeff before continuing. "We have our orders, crew; Find Saren before he finds the Conduit." She paused, took a deep breath before she continued, "I won't lie to you, this mission is going to be far from easy. Our enemy knows that we're coming. When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us." Another pause. "But we'll be ready for them too."

Avery leaned in closer to the intercoms microphone. "This is the most important mission anyone of us has ever been on." There was weight behind every one of her words, but there was a lot of weight on her, on her crew, with this mission. If they failed, if Saren found the Conduit and he managed to bring back the Reapers… that would mean the end for the galactic civilization. "The fate of an entire galaxy is at stake. Now it's time for humanity to step up and do our part of the rest of the galaxy." Shepard looked at Joker, saw him smirking, causing her to smile too. "We will stop Saren, no matter what the cost!"

She watched the light indicating that the intercom was on, turn off, straightening herself again.

"Well said, Commander" Joker said, and she turned to him again, "Captain would be proud."

"Not if we fail," she responded, reminding him of the possibility of failure. It might not be an uplifting thought, but chances are that they could be unsuccessful. "Speeches won't stop Saren from finding the Conduit. If we really want to make the Captain proud, we better get this bird in the air."

"Yes ma'am." Jeff turned his attention forward, preparing the Normandy to leave the docks.

"Set course for the Knossos system in the Artemis Tau cluster." Avery turned around, started walking back towards the CIC, "We need to find Liara T'soni."

"Roger that."

Shepard walked with a fast pace through the ship, the images from the beacon flashing through her mind. The Protheans… was being wiped out by the Reapers. But it was still a mess in her head, the memories blurry and she couldn't really get a grip of anything. She knew the vision was important; otherwise Saren wouldn't have been after the beacon, but she couldn't figure out why it mattered so much. It had something to do with the Conduit, that much she knew. But... she didn't know much else.

"Commander?"

She stopped as she heard her name being called out. Looking in the direction the voice came from, she saw Kaidan walking up to her.

"Something on your mind, Lieutenant?"

He stopped a few feet away from her, "Uh, yeah, I was… I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment." Kaidan's eyes swept across the CIC and everyone in the room, "In private?"

She raised an eyebrow looking at him, "Yeah, of course."


	11. Chapter 9 Bonus

It had been a long twenty-four hours.

First it was that routine mission on Eden Prime that turned out to be anything but routine. The turian Spectre had been killed, by another Spectre at that, and the beacon had been destroyed, knocking out Shepard in the blast. She only just woke up before they arrived at the Citadel to see the Council, who'd refused to believe what had happened at the human colony was true.

The skycar stopped when they reached the upper markets, and the three of them got out. The Gunnery Chief had been pissed about the Council's non-helpful attitude towards the attack on Eden Prime, and she hadn't been quiet about it. The Commander however… Kaidan would understand if she'd reacted the way Williams did, but she'd been quiet for the whole ride back from the Citadel Tower. Shepard hadn't said a single word about it.

She stopped by the railing, leaning over, looking out over the Ward arms. And he did the same.

"Big place." The words just slipped right out from his mouth, taking in the view.

Ashley could barely contain her laugh, "That your professional opinion, sir?"

Shepard looked over at the two and chuckled, shaking her head, "He's right, Williams." She looked out to the view again, "This isn't a space station… it's a city."

"There must be millions here," he said, looking away from the commander, "It can't be possible to track everyone coming and going."

He could see Shepard nodding in the corner of his eye, "The Council represents more races than I thought." She paused for a while, "No wonder they're careful with newcomers."

"They probably just want to keep everything running." He watched a number of ships coming in to dock, at least a dozen of them, none of them from the alliance. "Must be hard keeping all these cultures working together."

"Or maybe they just don't like humans," Ashley said almost before he finished his sentence.

Kaidan looked over to her.

He got that she was upset about her crew, and that the Council hadn't done anything to make it easier for her to get over it, but he was starting to think she didn't like aliens at all.

"What's there not to like?" Shepard turned towards them, a smirk spread across her lips, "We've got oceans, beautiful women, this emotion called love." She turned her back to the scenery, leaning against the railing. "According to the old vids, we've got everything they want."

"When you put it like that, there's no reason that they wouldn't like you."

The two women chuckled.

"I mean us. Humans. Ma'am."

Oh God, he was a complete moron. Kaidan wanted to throw himself over the railing.

"You don't take much shore leave, do you, LT?" Williams teased, still laughing.

"Laugh it up, Chief," Shepard said to Ashley before turning to him, "I appreciate the thought Alenko, but we're on duty." Then she turned around, walking towards the stairs to the Lower Markets, to get to Chora's Den.

"Yes ma'am."

Fuck. She must think that he's some kind of… drooling lecher now.

Since then a lot of things had happened. They convinced the Council that Saren was a traitor. Shepard had become the first human Spectre. And Kaidan still couldn't get that conversation out of his head.

The only time he ever opened his mouth without thinking and that's what he said?

He had to apologize to her.

"Commander?"

Kaidan called out as he saw her coming from the cockpit after talking to the crew through the intercom. She turned, looking in his direction, and he walked up to her, stopping just a few feet away.

"Something on your mind, Lieutenant?"

"Uh, yeah, I was… I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment." His gaze swept across the CIC and the number of people in it, "In private?"

He watched her eyebrows raise and she looked at him quietly for a moment before responding. "Yeah, of course." She gave him a nod in the direction of the stairs, and he followed her as she walked towards it.

"What did you want to talk about, Alenko?"

He cleared his throat, following her downstairs, "I wanted to apologize."

She stopped and turned so fast he nearly walked into her, "Now what would you apologize for?"

Kaidan looked around to see if there was anyone close enough to hear them, as did she.

"I wanted to apologize for what I said," he said, "After we talked to the Council."

Shepard chuckled and then continued walking, "It's alright, Lieutenant."

"No, I shouldn't have said that," Kaidan replied, following her as she walked over to the dining area in the mess hall.

Shepard sat down by the table, looking through some reports. He didn't sit down.

"I'm sorry."

She looked up at him from her reports, just… looking at him for a few moments, without saying anything. God, this was getting more uncomfortable by the second.

"Commander, I-"

"It's alright, Kaidan," she intermitted, "You didn't mean to offend me."

"But I did?" It didn't mean to come out as a question, but it ended up that way anyway.

"I'm not used to…" She chuckled, "I'm not used to having people comment on how I look."

"You're not?" Again, it just slipped his mouth. But it surprised him that people didn't. Because she as a beautiful woman. He'd say she was gorgeous.

Shepard shook her head, "No. I've worked hard to make it that way." She put down the datapad of the table and turned to him. "I prefer to get complimented for things I do, and I have had nothing to do with the way I look. I was born looking like this, it's in my genes. I can't change that, and I don't try to." She leaned back into the chair, resting her foot over her other leg. "It just feels odd to receive a compliment for something I have no control over."

"I… can understand that."

She leaned forward again, giving him a soft smile. "You didn't offend me, Alenko, I was merely a bit uncomfortable, and that was mostly because I remembered what Harkin said." She paused. "And he offended me."

"Yeah…" Kaidan couldn't think of a time he'd ever heard someone being as disrespectful as Harkin had been to the Commander. He almost doubted that man was from the 22nd century, with that attitude he had towards women.

"I appreciate you apologizing, Lieutenant, even if it really wasn't necessary," she smiled, "And if there's ever anything else on your mind, don't hesitate to talk to me."

He nodded and gave her a smile back, "Absolutely, ma'am."

Shepard picked up the datapad from the table again, "Now… if there's nothing else, then I have a few reports about geth sightings I have to read."

"There's nothing more."

She looked at him for a moment before slowly nodding, turning her attention to the datapad, and he watched her reading for a while. When she caught him looking at her when she gazed up from the text, and he turned around, walking away to continue his assignments.

Commander Shepard was a... she was an extraordinary woman. He'd never met anyone who didn't like being complimented for how they looked, at least not that he knew. Even he enjoyed it when women found him attractive, and he didn't mind having them tell him either. But she did.

And he could understand her. That she wanted people to acknowledge her for her accomplishments and not her looks. And she deserved that.

He looked over to her again.

She certainly was an extraordinary woman…


	12. Chapter 10

Shepard put down her PDA on the desk. Ran a hand through her walnut colored hair. It was starting to get long. It reached past her chin now; she could easily put it in a small ponytail at the back of her neck. She needed to get it cut soon.

But she didn't really have time now, did she? Not with Saren and the geth. And the Reapers? Whatever the hell they were, it wasn't good.

The first thing they needed to do was to find Dr. T'soni, Benezia's daughter. If she knew anything they needed to talk to her. If she didn't… well, she was a Prothean expert, hopefully she could help them. Maybe help her make sense of her vision from the beacon.

Avery sat down on the bed in the captain's quarters, burying her face in her hands. They had barely started this mission and she was already exhausted. Partly because it felt like the Council still didn't believe her about Saren and the Reapers, partly because of what happened on Eden Prime.

Dead civilians were a sight she never got used to. And then there was the vision from the beacon. she could barely close her eyes without seeing that nightmare again.

She sighed.

"How long until we arrive at Therum, Joker?"

"ETA in twenty-four minutes, Commander," came the pilot's reply through the intercom.

Shepard nodded slowly, looking up from her hands again, "Good. Keep me updated."

"Aye aye Commander."

She stood up, taking a deep breath before walking out from her sleeping quarters. Saw the staff-lieutenant almost as soon as she stepped through the door.

"Alenko."

He looked up from what he was doing, turning his head so that he could see her. "Ma'am?"

"You're coming with me on this mission."

Kaidan straightened himself, nodding towards her with a smile, "Yes, ma'am."

She chuckled, "And would you please stop it with the 'ma'am'? I feel almost twice my age when you do." Avery smiled back at him and started walking towards the elevator, "Shepard is just fine, ok?"

He caught up with her, walking half a step behind her, "Ok." He paused for a moment before he added, "Shepard."

Avery looked over her shoulder and saw him grinning slightly and then facing forward again, getting into the elevator and waiting for him before beginning the ride down to the cargo hold.

The lieutenant's apology earlier had caught her off guard. Most men wouldn't apologize for calling a woman beautiful. Even fewer would understand her reasoning, why she didn't like it. And he did both.

The elevator door opened, and the two of them stepped out.

"Gear up Vakarian," she called out to him as she walked up to her armor locker, "You're coming with us."

The turian nodded his head, "Alright Shepard."

She opened her locker, glancing over to Kaidan as she did. He was putting on his armor, getting ready for the mission, and a smirk curved her lips.

He was an unusual man.

But she didn't have time to think about that now.

They'd arrive at Therum in twenty minutes, give or take, and by then she needed to be in her armor, weapons ready and in the Mako, ready for drop.

She looked down on her chest piece, fingers running across the cunts and dents on it – it had been with her for a long time now. Her silver eyes were drawn to the N7 tag on the right side of the plate, and she couldn't help but to feel proud of her accomplishments. Ten years ago, she wouldn't have dared to even dream about graduating from the N7 program, much less be offered a spot in the program. And now she was the first human Spectre? When she enlisted on her eighteenth birthday all she wanted was to get as far away from Earth as possible, to get away from…

The smile disappeared from her lips as the memories she thought she'd forgotten resurfaced.

Shepard clasped on her armor.

Those days were long gone. It was a different life, and now just a bad memory. She wasn't the same person she used to be, and she never would be the same again. She didn't even know if the people the old Avery knew were still alive.

But they didn't matter anymore.

She grabbed her helmet and tossed it into the Mako.

"I've never visited a Prothean ruin before," Garrus stated once they got inside the dig site, looking around before getting in behind Shepard and Kaidan into the maintenance elevator. "Aside from the Citadel, I mean."

"The tiles in those holes remind me of a bathroom floor."

Shepard looked back at Kaidan who nodded towards the big gaps in the wall to their left, with an eerie glow to them, and looked like they were completely covered with bathroom tiles.

Her eyes kept looking at the hole in the wall until it disappeared out of sight from the elevator. "It was a while since I was in a bathroom that wasn't on-"

"Can you hear that?"

Acting on her military instincts, Shepard drew her weapon before looking around, trying to identify the source of the noises.

"Hello?"

Avery relaxed for a moment when she heard the voice speaking, glad that it wasn't another geth coming around a corner. She suspected that it was Dr. T'soni, but she wasn't going to count out anything else just yet, knowing that it might well be anyone, or anything.

"Hello, is anyone out there?"

The elevator started screeching and sparks flew from the metal before it came to an abrupt stop, almost knocking them all off their balance. Garrus had to pry the door open so that they could get out again. Shepard keeping an eye out for whomever it was they were looking for.

"Could somebody help me? Please?"

"It's coming from below us, commander," Kaidan said, quickly pointing his assault rifle down towards the.

"Can you hear me out there? I'm trapped, I need help!"

They moved quickly down the broken mining platforms towards the place the voice came from. As soon as she got within range, Shepard could see the asari whom she assumed had called out to them.

Without lowering her weapon, Avery approached the woman, her silver eyes quickly scanning over the area around them so make sure that they were secured from any threats.

"Dr. T'soni?"

"Thank the Goddess!" the woman exclaimed when she caught sight of Avery and her companions, "I did not think anyone would come looking for me."

She looked to the two other to keep an eye out for anyone else before looking back to T'soni. The asari was somehow suspended in the air, pure energy keeping her trapped it seemed.

"Listen. This thing I'm in is a Prothean security device," she said, "I cannot move, so I need you to get me out of it."

Avery looked around to find some sort of control panel, "How do I do that?"

"There is a control in here that should deactivate this thing," - the asari tried to move her head in the direction - "The defenses cannot be shut off from the outside, you'll have to find some way past the barrier curtain, I don't know how you'll get in here."

"Don't worry; we'll get you out soon enough."

"Be careful," T'soni said before she turned around, "There is a krogan with the geth. They've been trying to find ways to get past the barrier."

"Incoming geth, commander," Kaidan said, and a moment later gunfire erupted.

Shepard chuckled and shook her head, before jumping over the railing, using her biotics to slow her fall, landing steadily on the ground below, while she at the same time lifted one of the geth in the air with her biotic powers. "Nothing is ever easy, is it?"

She took cover behind one of the big rocks sticking up from the ground, feeling the gust from a round coming right past her, and she sighed in relief. Her barriers and shields would probably have offered her enough cover even if she hadn't gotten behind cover in time, but it was still nerve wracking every time a shot got that close.

She threw a grenade towards the geth, the explosion taking out more of them than she through, but still less than she'd hoped. But the battle was over quickly, and at the end she counted barely a dozen enemies. There would come more, and they had a krogan with them, so they'd better hurry to get out.

"We need to figure out a way to get past those barriers up there," Avery pointed up to where the asari was trapped, "And we need to do it before more of those machines arrive."

"Could this be something?" Alenko called from a few feet away, standing beside a mining laser.

She stood next to him after just a few quick steps, looking at the laser and then up to him, "Can you activate it?"

"Consider it done," Kaidan replied, hacking into the device with his omni-tool in just a few seconds.

"I'd take a few steps back if I were you," he said, looking at Garrus and her, and the two of them complied.

He pushed the button that activated the laser, and in just a moment there was a tunnel in front of them, going under the barriers, taking them into a large cylindrical room.

Shepard walked to the middle, finding a control for the Prothean elevator, and she activated it, the whole platform starting to move upwards and she wondered if she really hit the right button, and if they would stop where Liara were trapped or if the elevator would simply pass her. But it stopped before she had time to even finish her thoughts, and on the right level too, and they hurried over to the asari, who tried to turn her head to see them when she heard their footsteps nearing.

"How?" she asked surprised, "How did you get in here."

"Never mind that," Avery replied, "How do we get you out of here before more geth arrive?"

"Yes, you're right. I've seen enough of them to last a lifetime," she said, still trying to see the three of them that were standing behind her, "That button there should shut down my containment field."

"This one?" Shepard didn't wait for a reply before she pressed it, but it didn't matter as Liara was released from the trap, and she fell to the floor. Kaidan was there in a moment, helping her up on her feet again.

"Any idea how we get out of this place?" Garrus looked to Shepard first, turning to the asari as she simply shook her head. The elevator that took them down was stuck on the same floor as before, and she doubted that they had time to try and climb up to it anyway, since it got stuck a level above them, and she had no idea if this platform could take them all the way to the top…

"There is an elevator back in the center of the tower," Liara said, and hurried towards it, "At least, I think it's an elevator. It should take us out of here." She quickly activated the control panel, and as Shepard and her companions got to the center where Liara stood, she felt the floor under her move as the machinery started working, and the platform was moving them upwards.

She looked over to Liara. The asari leaned with her hands against the control panel, silent for a moment before she spoke, "I still cannot believe all this."

The platform slowed down before eventually coming to a stop at the top level, where they had first entered the ruins.

Avery took a few steps towards her, standing so she could see Liara's face, showing an expression of confusing mixed with fear, finding herself in this situation.

"Why would the geth come after me?" She turned to look at Shepard, "Do you think Benezia is involved?"

"Saren's looking for the Conduit and you're a Prothean expert," Kaidan interjected, "He probably wants you to help him find it."

"The Conduit? But I don't know…"

Liara was interrupted by a loud rumbling noise as the ground and walls around them shook.

Shepard looked around the room, watching crack starting to rip the walls, rocks falling down from the ceiling.

"What the hell was that?!"

"These ruins are not stable!" Liara answered the turian, "That mining laser must have triggered a seismic event." She looked over to the commander, "We have to hurry before the whole place caves in!"

Avery had already figured it out, and was radioing the Normandy for pick up, "Joker!"

"Commander?"

"Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal," she ordered him, "And make it fast!"

"Aye aye Commander," he replied, "Secure and aweigh. ETA eight minutes."

Another loud rumble shook the ground under them, and she barely managed to keep her balance. She looked over to Kaidan.

"Not much margin for error," he said and she gave him a short nod.

Not much margin at all.

Her group started to move, but she held up her hand to halt them. Through the thundering noise footsteps echoed through the ruins and before them were a krogan, with half a dozen geth accompanying him.

And they really didn't have time for this.

"Surrender," his voice boomed, "Or don't. That would be more fun."

Shepard didn't like that he seemed eager for her to try to kill him, but she wasn't going to back down. She was not about to just hand Dr. T'soni over to Saren and let him get his way. "Why are you here?"

"The same reason you are," he replied with his rumbling voice, "The asari."

She clenched her jaw, tightening the grip on her assault rifle. The confrontation was going to be unavoidable, and she did not look forward to having to battle her first krogan. Avery wished that she'd brought Wrex along.

"Thanks for getting rid of those energy fields for us," he boomed, "Now hand the doctor over."

"Whatever it is you want," Liara herself interjected, "You are not going to get from me!"

Shepard looked from the asari to the krogan, as another rumble, stronger than the ones before, shook the ground, "This place is crumbling down and you want to fight?"

The krogan's loud laughter resounded through the open space, "The atmosphere is perfect for our life and death struggle." He gave his geth minions a nod, "Kill them. Spare the asari if you can. If not, it doesn't matter."

"Get into cover!" she roared to her team, while grabbing Liara by her wrist to get her behind something as the geth started shooting at them.

"Stay out of sight and use this if you have to," Avery said, handing over her rifle to the asari.

"I-I'm not sure I know how to handle one of these!"

"Just point and pull the trigger."

Liara nodded slowly while looking down on it. Avery hoped that she wouldn't have to use it.

She barely had time to turn around and get out of the small cover before she found the krogan charging towards her, getting slammed into the ground the second she pulled out her gun, which got knocked out of her hand, sliding several feet away from her grasp.

As she turned to her back, she saw the krogan's foot, just inches away from crushing her face and instinctively she pushed the giant monster from herself using her biotics. The krogan crashed almost twenty feet from her, and in that time she'd gotten back up on her feet and her weapon back in her hand.

Her two companions were fighting the geth, the gunfire mixing with the thundering of the earth, but her attention was solely on the krogan that was already up on his feet, once more charging towards her. But this time she was ready for him.

When he was just inches away from her again she disappeared from his sight, in a blue flash, reappearing beside him, once more using her biotics to slam him into the facing wall. With a few well-aimed shots, she finished him off as the last geth fell to the floor with a metallic clank.

Avery turned around, heading back to Liara who was still sitting in cover with the rifle in a tight grip, when she noticed the asari's expression. She looked like-

"COMMANDER!"

As she turned to look over to Kaidan, she caught a glimpse of the krogan in the corner of her eye. He was still on his feet? How was that possible?

With a feral growl he charged at her, firing his shotgun at the same time, and she felt metal dig into her shoulder as the shots tore down her shields and pierced her armor. It wasn't a big wound, and it wasn't a deadly one either, but the pain crippled her for a second, giving the krogan enough time to tackle her once more, this time not bothering to stay on his feet and instead falling over her, pinning her down under his whole weight.

A loud groan escaped her mouth when he landed on her, and she was sure that he cracked at least two of her ribs.

Just as Shepard thought that this would be her last moment alive she heard two shots being fired, and a warm liquid poured from the holes in the krogan's head, over her face, and he stopped moving.

But it wasn't over yet. The ground shook under them without an end, large pieces of rock falling from the ceiling and the walls, and Avery was still pinned under the dead krogan.

She tried to get out from under the heavy dead weight, but it was getting harder to breathe, and she couldn't get a good enough grip to push him away from her, and it was getting harder to concentrate on using her biotics without oxygen, so the energy merely surrounded her, creating a blue field as she tried her hardest to get him off her.

Shepard noticed her companions running towards her, and she groaned loudly as she tried to move the immovable body. Her eyes turned to the others.

"Get out of here!" she screamed at them and they stopped. "GO."

"Commander…!" Kaidan said, starting to move towards her again.

"I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" Another grunt as she tried to push the krogan away, seeing the others fleeing in the corner of her eye.

The whole place was coming down on her, and fast. But Shepard had no plans on dying there in the ruins.

With what felt like the last of her strength, she pushed the krogan's dead body off her, the one ton heavy body crashing into the wall next to her, and she got back up on her feet, finally being able to breathe again, but she was guessing that she might've broken a few more ribs than she first thought. Pain rushed through her body as she started to run towards the exit, the walls around her finally giving in as the whole ruin started falling apart.

Rock crashed against metal, tearing down the walkway behind her, racing to catch up and drag her down as well. She could see the tunnel in front of her, and the Normandy still waiting for her.

iThose idiots…/i She couldn't help but to smile, and when she reached the tunnel, she ran even fast. Tripping once, but getting back on her feet just as fast again. And then she was back on the Normandy.

"I told you to get the fuck out of here," she panted as the hatch closed and both Kaidan and Garrus walked up to her.

Avery straightened herself, "Joker, get us off this planet."

"Aye aye commander."

She looked back to the two, "Thanks."

Then her broken body remembered her of its injuries and she gasped in pain as she clutched her ribs.

"You look like shit," she heard Wrex call from the end of the cargo hold, and she laughed before again clutching her side in pain.

"I feel like shit," Avery groaned.

"You should go to Dr. Chakwas."

She nodded, walking towards the elevator, "Gather everyone in the briefing room and I'll be right there."

Before she activated the elevator, she turned to Kaidan and Garrus again, her facial expression stern as she looked at them. "I expect you to follow my orders next time."

Shepard pressed the button to the elevator, and the doors closed in front of her.


	13. Chapter 11

iWe build space ships with faster than light travel and we can't make an elevator travel from one floor to another in less than ten seconds in said ship?/i

Shepard groaned as she leaned on the railing in the lift, starting to unclasp her armor, not being able to wait any longer to get it off. As her burden eased, it also got easier for her to breathe again. Soon her whole armor was on the elevator floor, and the door opened as she reached the crew deck.

She took a moment, taking a breath as deep as she could without her fractured ribs causing her too much pain, and then she started walking towards the med bay.

As she rounded the corner she saw the doctor already coming towards her, her expression a concerned one, mixed with a bit of annoyance, Avery guessed.

"It's not as bad it looks, doctor," she said, trying to smirk, but suspected that the pain showed on her face no matter how much she tried to conceal it.

"No," Chakwas replied, and stopped her to take a look at her injuries, "It's always worse than it looks with you soldiers." She placed Shepard's arm around her shoulders to give her some support while walking to the med bay.

Avery chuckled, before groaning in pain. "True."

The door opened before them and they stepped inside, Chakwas letting go of her to grab some medigel and her scanning equipment, and she walked up to one of the tables to lie down.

She closed her eyes for a moment, feeling it getting easier to breathe by the second, and she listened to Chakwas searching through drawers and cabinets for the right things, listened to the doctor walking towards to her before stopping right next to her. Shepard could hear her activating her omni-tool, to scan her body. And then, a needle was pressed into her arm, and her eyes were wide open again.

"A little warning next time, doc?" she groaned as she sat up when Chakwas pulled out the syringe.

All she got in response was a quick smirk, and the doctor turned around again, walking over to her terminal.

"You're lucky, you only have a few minor fractures to your three lower rib bones on the left," she turned towards Shepard again, "What happened down there Commander?"

"I wrestled a krogan," Avery smirked at the doctor. It had been one of the toughest fights in her life, but it was better to act like it hadn't been, than to be overly cautious and fear future fights like it. And in the end, this had been nothing like Elysium.

Chakwas shook her head, and walked over to Shepard again, signaling her to take off her shirt, and Shepard did as she was told, "Well, it should heal within a few weeks, if you're careful."

She could hear a soft sigh coming from the other woman, and she guessed it was from seeing her scars. She certainly had her share of them. But then again, all soldiers did. But after Elysium, and the batarians attack on the human colony, she had a few more scars than the average Alliance recruit.

The doctor opened a can, carefully rubbing some balm over her bruised ribs, and then the cut on her cheek Shepard didn't know she had until then.

"But that means no more krogan wrestling," she said, starting to wrap bandages around her abdomen and lower chest. "At least not until your wounds has fully healed."

"Noted."

The pain in her side was starting to fade, probably because of the ointment and the medi-gel.

Avery got up again, pulling on her shirt over her head. "Thanks doc."

"You need to rest Commander."

"I would," she replied, "But Saren isn't going to wait for me to rest."

Chakwas sighed as she left the med bay.

Shepard knew that the doctor was right though, but she couldn't afford to rest. Nobody could afford to let her rest. Not while Saren was still out there, building his army of geth, trying to find a way to bring back the Reapers. And she was the only one who could stop him. The Council didn't take her warnings about the Reapers seriously, even though they'd all heard him talking about them on the recording that Tali had managed to salvage from a geth.

At least she had her team with her…

As she came up the stairs to the CIC, a crew member stopped in front of her, saluting.

"The team is waiting for you inside the debriefing room, ma'am," she said, standing in attention.

Shepard gave her a quick nod before she walked towards the doors, entering the room where the rest of the team had gathered to wait for her. But she barely had the time to sit down before she heard the intercom spark, and Joker's voice filled the room.

"Too close Commander," he said, and they could all hear the annoyance in his tone, "Ten more seconds and we would've been swimming in molten sulphur. The Normandy isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanoes. They tend to ifry/i our sensors and imelt/i our hull."

She sighed as she shook her head, chuckling silently at the pilot.

"Just for future reference." The quiet buzz from the intercom disappeared when Joker turned it off.

"We almost died out there and your pilot is making jokes?"

Avery turned towards the newest member of the crew, the corners of her mouth rising slightly as she smiled at the asari, "It's a coping mechanism. You'll get used to it."

"I see," she replied, "It must be a human thing."

There was a spread of chuckles as a response to what she said.

"I don't have a lot of experience dealing with your species, Commander," Liara explained, "But I am grateful to you. You saved my life back there. Those geth would've killed me, or dragged me off to Saren."

"What does Saren want with you?" Kaidan asked, "Do you know something about the Conduit?"

The asari shook her head, "Only that is was somehow connected to the Prothean extinction. That is my real area of expertise." She shifted where she sat in her chair, "I've spent the past fifty years trying to figure out what happened to them, but there is little evidence to support any theory. It's like someone came and cleansed the galaxy of all clues."

Avery watched as Liara got more and more exited talking about the Protheans and her research, but they didn't really have the time to listen to theories about the extinction of an entire race that happened fifty thousand years ago. They needed to move fast if they were ever going to catch up to Saren.

"But here's the incredible part," Liara continued, her voice filled with excitement, "According to my findings, the Protheans wasn't the first galactic civilization to mysteriously vanish."

"What?"

And suddenly everyone in the room turned to the asari, listening to what she was saying, but hardly believing it.

"The cycle began long before them."

Avery leaned forward, towards the woman. "Cycle?"

Liara nodded, "The galaxy is built on a cycle of extinction. Each time a great civilization rises up, it is suddenly and violently cast down, and only ruins survive. I have dedicated my life to finding out why."

A thousand faces flashed before her wide open eyes, their screams and cries echoing through her and Avery unconsciously pulled up her hands to clutch her head as the pain of having the vision burned into her mind once more came over her. And it all made sense now. She knew what happened to the Protheans, and every civilization before them.

"Shepard?"

The familiar voice of the lieutenant brought her back to the present.

"They were wiped out by a race of sentient machines," she said, still clutching her head, "The Reapers." She ran her hands through her hair, looking up again.

"The- the Reapers?" Liara asked, shaking her head, "But I have never heard of- How do you know this? What evidence do you have?"

"There was a damaged Prothean beacon on Eden Prime," Shepard explained, "It burned a vision into my brain." She sighed, shaking her head, "But I'm still trying to sort out what it all means."

"It… makes sense." The asari started nodding the more she thought about it, almost getting up from her chair, "It is extremely rare to find a working one, and it is designed to only work with Prothean physiology." Liara looked at her, "The message but have been confused, unclear. I am amazed that you made sense of it at all."

"Barely."

"A lesser mind would've been destroyed by the process," she continued, "You must be extremely strong-willed, Commander."

"This isn't helping us to find Saren," Kaidan interrupted, and cleared his throat, "Or the Conduit."

Liara chuckled nervously for a moment, "Of course. Sorry, my scientific curiosity got the better part of me." Then she paused, and Avery figured she was trying to remember what she knew about Saren, the Reapers or the Conduit. And then she shook her head. "I don't know anything to help find the Conduit. Or Saren."

iDamn./i

Avery stood up from the chair, rubbing her forehead. "You can still help us." She looked over to Liara. "I don't know why Saren wanted you out of the picture, but I think we're a lot better off if we bring you along."

The asari got up from the chair, smiling at her, "Thank you Commander, I am very grateful…"

Liara swayed, almost losing her balance. Shepard hurried to catch her, but she held up a hand to stop her.

"I'm afraid I'm feeling a bit lightheaded." She smiled faintly.

"When was the last time you ate? Or slept?"

Avery turned her head, seeing Kaidan standing not two feet from her, having also gotten up from his chair when Liara nearly fell. She turned her attention back to the other woman.

"Dr. Chakwas should take a look at you."

"It's probably just mental exhaustion," she said.

"Better safe than sorry," Shepard interjected, "Go see Dr. Chakwas, and the rest of you…" She looked around in the room, being reminded of her bruised ribs as she turned her torso, "Dismissed."

The group of odd people of different races all stood up, leaving the debriefing room, and she sat down in her chair again, just waiting for the pain to go away again. Or at least fade a bit before she followed them.

Then Joker's voice was heard over the intercom.

"Mission reports are filed Commander. You want me to patch you through to the Council?"

She took a deep breath, nodding, "Yes."

"Setting up the link now Commander."

She stood up again, turning to face the hologram of the Council coming up at the back of the room, straightening herself.

"We've received your report Commander," the asari councilor spoke, "We understand that dr. T'soni is on the Normandy."

"I assume you're taking the necessary security precautions."

Avery turned her head towards the turian. Even with just the hologram she could feel how he glared at her, far from as trusting as you'd expect a council member to be towards a Spectre. "Yes."

"Good."

"But," she continued, "Dr. T'soni is on our side."

They didn't respond, but she already knew they doubted her judgment. She hadn't expected this to be any different from when they wouldn't believe her when she warned them about Saren."

"The geth tried to kill her."

"Benezia would never allow Saren to harm her daughter."

"Maybe she doesn't know," the salarian said, turning to his asari colleague.

"Or maybe we don't know her," the turian interjected, "We never expected her to become a traitor."

For a few moments none of them said a word, the asari shaking her head slowly, and Avery figured she was also thinking about what a mess this had become. Hopefully they were starting to see how things really were now.

"At least the mission was a success."

"Apart from the utter destruction of a Prothean ruin." And again the councilor glared at her, "Was that really necessary Commander?"

"The geth were everywhere," she explained, "If I could've done things differently without risking all our lives more than we already did, I would've done it."

"Of course Commander," the salarian looked at the two other councilors before looking to her, "The mission must always take priority."

She barely managed to keep herself from sighing in relief. At least that was one less thing they would hold over her.

"Good luck Commander," said the asari, letting her know that this conversation was at its end, and Shepard gave her a nod as a thank you.

"Remember," she continued then, and Avery looked to her again, "We are all counting on you."

The hologram disappeared.

She leaned against the wall, running a hand through her hair, pulling it behind her ears to get it out of her eyes.

Was this what it was like being a Spectre? The Council couldn't – or wouldn't – help her, not more than perhaps point her in the right direction, but they still expected her to take care of it all. To chase down Saren and stop him, even though they barely believed he needed stopping. And if she didn't… he'd bring the Reapers back.

Shepard sighed.

At least they managed to stop him from getting to Dr. T'soni. Maybe it was because she was an expert in the Protheans that he was after her, or maybe it was just that Benezia wanted her daughter to join them. Whatever it was that they wanted from her, Avery couldn't let them have it.

The door out from the debriefing room opened, and she got out into the CIC, walking the stairs down to the crew deck, and more specifically; the med bay. She needed to talk to the asari, to see if there was anything she couldn't say in front of the whole team, about Saren, about Benezia, the geth or the Protheans. They needed every advantage they could get, because they were already too far behind in this race.

The door opened, but as her eyes scanned through the room, the only one she saw was Normandy's own doctor.

"Is-?"

She barely started her sentence before Chakwas cut her off.

"I told Dr. T'soni that she could set up in the room in the back," the woman said, looking up from her datapad, "She was dehydrated and should be resting for a while, though I doubt she took my advice."

Shepard nodded, passing the doctor as she walked to the back. "I'll make sure she gets some rest."

"Good."

The door opened and she found Liara sitting by a terminal, her fingers tapping fast on the keyboard. The asari turned her head towards her when she heard the door open, and got up from the chair once she saw who it was.

"Commander," she said, sounding surprised, "Are you coming to check up on me?"


	14. Chapter 12

"Are you coming to check up on me?"

"Yes," Shepard smiled and gestured towards the chair, urging the asari to sit down again. "You look much better. How are you feeling?"

Liara smiled back at her, sitting down again. "Dr. Chakwas assures med I am going to be fine. I am quite impressed with her knowledge of asari physiology."

Avery nodded slowly, pulling out another chair to sit down too. "You're in good hands, Dr. Chakwas knows what she's doing."

The asari nodded as well, and then the room went quiet for a few moments.

Shepard's grey eyes examined the other woman. There were a few small cuts and bruises to the sky blue skin, most likely from the battle they barely escaped from with their lives. She looked no older than Avery did, maybe even younger. But then, she claimed to have spent the past fifty years trying to find out what had happened to the Protheans, so she must be at least twice her age.

"I never properly thanked you for saving me from the geth, Commander," she then said, breaking the silence, "If you hadn't shown up…"

Avery smiled softly, "I'm just glad we got there in time."

"So am I," she responded, smiling back. "I know you took a chance, bringing me onto the Normandy, and I have seen the way the crew looks at me, they do not trust me."

She'd only been aboard a few hours and had already noticed the crews' distrusts against her. Avery suspected she would have to talk to the crew about their newest member.

"I am not like Benezia, Commander," Liara said, "I will do whatever I can to help you stop Saren. I promise."

Shepard's lips curved gently to another smile, "Don't worry Liara, I don't believe you are like her, and I don't think you'll let me down."

Liara sighed in relief. "It means a lot to hear you say that Commander," she smiled, "Thank you."

"Tell me-"

"Commander?"

Avery was interrupted by Joker's voice coming out over the intercom.

"Yes?"

"Message incoming from Admiral Hackett, Commander," Joker said.

She got up from her chair. "I'll take it in the debrief room." Shepard turned to the asari once more. "Try to get some rest, Dr. T'soni. And if there is anything you need, just let me know."

"Thank you, Commander."

She gave her a short nod before turning around, and leaving the room. She hurried her steps up a floor, to the CIC and then the debriefing room once more, where a holo of the Admiral was already waiting for her.

"Commander Shepard."

"Admiral." She stood in attention.

"At ease, Commander," he said, and she did as she was told, clasping her hands behind her back, as she stood with her eyes fixed on the hologram.

"I have a mission for you," Hackett said then, "One of our archeological excavations has been attacked by the geth. I need you to get our team out of there."

Shepard gave him a short nod. "Understood."

"Shepard."

She straightened herself, "Sir?"

"I'm not only asking you because you can get there before anyone else."

She waited in silence for him to continue, but he didn't. "Admiral?"

"The excavation is on Armeni."

"Armeni?"

She had heard of the planet before. The terrestrial world with millions of elaborate crypts a few meters below the surface, left by the long-extinct space-faring species called zeioph. There were few human universities that didn't wish to study these tombs. But these grave sites had been declared sacred by Council law, and the matter had been tied up in court for over a decade. The Alliance shouldn't have anyone on that planet, and definitely not an excavation team.

"I assume you know why this must be kept secret."

Avery nodded slowly, "Yes."

She knew that humanity was considered to be bullies to the rest of the galaxy, and rightfully so. She did not agree with the way the Alliance handled some things, but she had no say in the matter. She was a soldier, not a politician. What her opinions were mattered little to no one else.

"The excavation team had a group of soldiers with them," the admiral continued, "But distress call was made by the archeologists and we must assume that none of the soldiers have survived."

"Understood."

"Good." The admiral clasped his hands behind his back. "We are counting on you, Commander."

The holo in front of her disappeared.

"Set course to Armeni, Joker."

"Aye aye, ma'am."

Shepard turned around, walking out from the debrief room.

This was serious. The Alliance was breaking Council law by having an excavation team on Armeni. If the Council found out about this, humanity would be in trouble. And now they were under attack by geth, and she had to deal with this quickly if this were to continue to be a secret.

She didn't like it. Humanity taking liberties, especially when they still were newcomers to the galaxy. But her opinion didn't matter. Those in charge wanted humanity to be seen and heard, and they weren't afraid to fight dirty to get there they wanted. All she could do was to follow the orders given to her. Even if she was a Spectre now, she was still human first.


	15. Chapter 13

"Vakarian, gear up."

Shepard called out to Garrus as soon as the elevator door opened in front of her. She stepped out, heading towards the drive core.

"Alright," she heard him respond before getting to the door to the engine room.

She stopped once in the room, her silver eyes scanning through the space before they found what they were looking for.

"Tali?"

The quarian woman turned towards her, "Shepard?"

"I, uh…" Avery chuckled, "I'd tell you to suit up, but, well…" She smiled. "I need you to come with me on this next mission."

"Of course, Shepard."

"We'll be there in just a few minutes."

Tali nodded as a reply.

She waited for Tali to finish what she was doing, to walk back out to the cargo bay with her.

"If you need better armor, just let me know, and we'll put in a requisition order," Avery said as Tali joined her side. "I don't want you to take any unnecessary risks."

It was impossible to see any kind of emotions when her face was hidden behind that helmet, but Avery could hear a short chuckle.

"Thank you, but it's tougher than it looks," she replied, "I have good shields."

Shepard nodded and smiled, "Alright."

When they got out, Garrus was already in his suit, getting his weapons ready. He turned towards them.

"So what's this mission about, Commander?" he asked, fastening his handgun to his hip.

Avery opened her locker, clearing her throat. "We're going to Armeni," she replied, "We're going to pick up a team that's under attack by geth."

"Armeni?" Garrus said, "I recognize that name. Isn't that the planet with-"

"Yeah, it is."

None of them said anything, because both of them already knew what this meant. That humanity had deliberately disobeyed Council law, and gone to Armeni in secret to study the crypts of the zeioph. If this got out…

They all knew what it would mean for the Alliance if word got out about this, and she was taking a huge risk just telling them about this, not to mention bringing them on this mission.

Avery continued putting her armor on, getting ready for the mission in silence, as did the others.

She strapped on the pieces of her armor, muted grey in color, except for the red stripe going down her right arm. Over the right side of her chest, the N7-patch. She still remembered the day when she got offered to join the program. It seemed like such a long time ago now.

"Commander?" It was Joker's voice coming over the intercom. "ETA in two minutes. You better get ready and get into the Mako."

"Alright, Joker."

She turned to the two others, and saw that they were ready to go. Shepard nodded towards the Mako, and started walking towards it when they did.

Avery'd seen Garrus in action before, and he'd worked in C-Sec for years, but the most she'd seen of Tali was when they first met. It was a good guess that she knew how the geth worked and how to best disable one, and she could handle a small fight, but she had no idea if the quarian could handle a bigger fight, like one she suspected they'd get into when they got down planet side. If the archeologists had soldiers with them for protection, but they still needed help handling the geth, that meant that the geth outnumbered them. And from what she'd seen on Eden Prime, she guessed that their numbers was in several dozens.

She was just hoping that Tali would prove to her that she was able to handle the kind of mission they were on, chasing after Saren.

They had barely landed on Armeni before they were attacked by geth. At least a dozen troopers and one colossus they encountered before getting to the zeioph crypts, and where the archeologists and soldier who had survived were. Apparently there were too few of them to handle this kind of attack, and the maze that were the tunnels down underground were the best protection they had against the geth. If they tried to make it to the surface without someone first killing the colossus, Shepard knew that they would never have survived.

They were standing by one of the entrances down to the crypts - Tali, Garrus and Shepard – and she could already hear the fighting down in the tunnels. She looked back to her team for a moment, readying herself by taking out her assault rifle and then turning to the opening again.

"In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again."

"What?"

"Sorry, I just couldn't help but to think about a book I read as a kid," Avery relied, turning to Garrus with a smirk on her lips, "Alice in Wonderland. I'll tell you what it's about sometime, when we're not going down into catacombs filled with geth."

"Deal," Garrus chuckled.

She switched on the flashlight on her heavy pistol as she went into the darkness of the tunnel, already seeing the corpses of fallen Alliance soldiers along the walls. There were at least a dozen of them, and they'd been completely taken by surprise – they didn't stand a chance against the geth. They didn't make a sound, they didn't even breathe. At least they'd manage to take down two, no, three geth with them.

They continued down the tunnel, finding more bodies along the way, though the numbers became fewer with every corner they passed. Avery wondered if anyone were still alive.

But then gunshots echoed through the crypts. Someone was still alive, and they were still putting up a fight. Shepard signaled to the other to be quiet as they got closer.

She stopped when the tunnel turned again, peeking around the corner.

Three geth, and they seemed to be standing guard at the entrance to a bigger room. She waved over Tali, who also glanced around the corner, then nodding to her as she brought up her omni-tool, immediately understanding what it was the Commander was after.

Avery peered once more, watching as there was a slight disturbance in the air around the geth as Tali disabled their shields, and soon after one of them quickly gunned down the two others after being hacked by the quarian.

Shepard rounded the corner, gunning down the third and last of them, hurrying towards the entrance where she still could hear the sound of a fight going on. She stopped for a second, turning to her team coming up behind her.

"Garrus, you go left, and Tali go right," she said, "I'll take the offence. Just wait a few moments before coming after I go in and you'll hopefully take the geth by surprise."

"You'll take a lot of heat going in alone, Shepard," Garrus said.

"I can handle it," she replied with a small smirk, "As long as you don't take too long."

"I'll try to disable a few geth shields for you," Tali said, getting her omni-tool ready once more, "Or at least hack a few of them, so you won't be as outnumbered."

"I won't be alone there, you know," she responded, "They're still soldiers and scientists alive and fighting."

"Right."

"Get ready. Don't come after me too quickly, but don't wait so long that they'll have time to kill me, alright?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

She looked out through the entrance. It was calm, for now. She hoped that it didn't mean that all humans were dead now. The geth was in cover behind large stone chests, but only for those on the other side, to her they were open targets.

"See you on the other side."

In a blue flash she was gone. It was a biotic move she'd learned during her N7-training years ago. It was called 'charge', for good reason. In just the blink of an eye she could move at least thirty meters, even from one floor to the other, without ever touching the ground. So when Shepard just appeared behind the geth from what seemed to be nowhere, she had the upper hand. She realized though that Tali probably hadn't been able to disable any of the geth's shields yet though, and she could waste a lot of heat sinks in an effort to get through. But charge wasn't the only thing her biotics was good for.

In the moment after she appeared the geth was floating in the air, and she could hear those Alliance soldiers that were still alive shouting orders, joy in their voices, and then a hail of bullets piercing the geth.

The fight was over in seconds. Avery hadn't fired even one shot.

She walked over to the humans peering at her from behind their cover, not yet convinced she wasn't a threat to them. She didn't blame them. Then one of them stood up, lowering her weapon.

"Well, if it isn't Commander Shepard, first human Spectre." The dark-haired woman jumped over the broken stone crate, walking towards her. "Still trying to surpass everyone else, I see?"

Avery grinned, "Endoh-san." She'd finally learned how those Japanese suffixes worked. "You're getting yourself into trouble again?"

The Japanese woman scoffed. "I'm almost happy that the geth showed up. Otherwise I might've died of boredom." She looked over Shepard's shoulder with her black eyes, at Tali and Garrus walking up behind her. "You brought aliens?"

She frowned. "I brought allies."

"You know what we're doing down here, right?"

"Yeah," she replied, "So do they."

"Is that wise, Shepard-san?"

"Hackett asked me to go, and he knew about them being on my ship," Avery replied, "If there's a problem with them knowing about humanity's screw ups, then talk to him about it."

"Alright," Keitari sighed, "If he knows about it, then that's his call. As long as it's not on me."

"It's not."

"Good."

Avery's silver eyes scanned the room. She counted four in total, three soldiers, including Endoh, and one she assumed was an archeologist, since he wasn't wearing any armor. "Are you the only survivors?"

"No. At least we shouldn't be." The Japanese woman pointed to another opening in a wall, to the west side of the room. "Another team of archeologists was doing some research in a chamber further in. They had a group of soldiers with them, and we've had contact with them over the com, but..." She tried to bring up her omni-tool, but the only thing she got was static. "Those bastard geth hacked it somehow. We had time to warn them about the attack though, and if we survived, some of them should be alive too."

"Hopefully."

"You shouldn't expect too much. They were few to begin with, and the geth overwhelmed us all." Endoh shook her head, "Why are they even here? The geth haven't ventured outside the veil since-"

"Someone's coming!"

They all turned to the tunnel on the west wall, and saw the darkness being slowly lit up.

"EVERYBODY BEHIND COVER," Endoh commanded, and they all listened.

It was only a short fight, the geth coming back through the tunnel being no more than half a dozen. Avery doubted that was the last of the geth, and if it were, they wouldn't return unless they had what they came for. But she realized that this wasn't a good time for questions, and after making sure that no more were coming to ambush them when they least expected it, she leaned over to the Japanese woman.

"We need to get you out of here," she said, "We'll get the rest, and you get out from here. The Mako is outside, and from there you can radio our pilot and tell him to bring the Normandy down to pick us up."

"I won't flee and cower while you rescue the rest of us," Endoh growled, "There's no honor in running away."

"I'm not telling you to run and hide, Endoh, I'm telling you to protect those of you we know have survived." Her silver orbs swept over those few left alive, watching them trying to bandage their wounds, barely keeping their emotions at bay for losing their colleagues and friends. "That was your duty here. Mine is to get you out."

Keitari glared at her for a few moments before looking over to the other soldiers and the scientists. She then turned towards Avery again. "Fine."

"There are medical procurements in the Mako if you need any," Shepard said, "How far until we reach the other team?"

"It depends on how many of those AIs managed to get into the tunnels, but you should be able to get back out within an hour." Endoh turned to her subordinates, "Get ready to leave."

"I'll take my team into the tunnels," Avery said, getting herself ready to leave, "I won't let any geth get through, but don't wait too long to leave."

The other woman gave her a short nod before turning back to her men and women, getting them up on their feet, and Shepard turned to hers.

"Ready?"

"Yes," they answered in unison, with their weapons in hands.

They headed for the tunnel, and Avery could hear Endoh ordering her subordinates and the scientists to get ready to leave.

The tunnel in front of them was pitch black, but she wasn't sure that turning on their flashlights would be such a good idea, since it would warn the geth about their arrival, removing the element of surprise and they would no longer have the upper hand in the battle. But on the other hand they couldn't just wander around in the darkness, hoping that they wouldn't stumble over something, or into an ambush. So she turned on the small light on her handgun, slowly walking into the tunnel.

The tunnel was clear of geth so far, but just a few meters ahead the tunnel would divide into two, which would be the perfect place to set an ambush.

The three of them stopped, and she waited for a few seconds before even looking around the corner, but it seemed to be as empty as it had been so far. The geth might've assumed that there wouldn't be anyone else but them coming through these tunnels, and not bothered with any traps or guards of some kind.

This time the tunnel went on straight for a long while, the walls filled with chasms where she presumed had been the resting places for the ancient zeioph, now nothing more than dust in the wind.

But then she saw something. Just a glimpse of something made out of metal, hidden in the wall that caught her eye as she passed it. A…

"TRAP!"

There was a series of small explosions, starting at the device she'd seen, and then above her in the ceiling. Her instincts took over and with a biotic push she got her team out of the way as rocks and stones started coming down on them.

Garrus and Tali crashed into the floor, landing on each other. The turian got up on his feet, and then helped the quarian up on hers before turning to the commander, but all he saw was rubble and dust.

"Shepard?"

As the smoke began to fade, they could see that the explosions had caused the whole tunnel to cave in, blocking the path ahead. And Avery was nowhere to be seen.

"SHEPARD?"


	16. Chapter 14

"Shepard?"

Everything was a mist of throbbing and thundering.

"SHEPARD?"

Shepard opened her eyes, groaned as she tried to stand up, her broken rib reminding her of its existence, but somehow she managed to get back up on her feet.

"Shepard!"

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you, Garrus," she groaned as she fumbled to get out a medi-gel to inject herself with. "Are you two alright?"

"Yeah, we are. What about you, Shepard?"

"I'm good." She hissed at the pain from the injection. "I'm guessing you two with either have to dig through this rubble…"

"Or stay with the team, I know" Garrus filled in.

"I don't like you to having to go on your own…"

"We can look out for each other, but you're alone."

"Heh," she scoffed, "I'm a Spectre, remember? I'm supposed to be able to deal with this alone."

"Right."

"I've been through worse, Vakarian, so don't worry about me," she said and straightened herself once the medi-gel started to work and the pain started to fade. "Just get back to the team and I'll come back there when I've located the others. There's got to be another way to get back there."

"Roger."

She sighed, picking up her gun that had landed a few feet away from her. Shepard held it up in front of her, the small flashlight lighting up the tunnel some feet ahead of her, and started walking.

Avery would be surprised if she didn't run across anymore trouble. If the geth took their time to set up one trap, they'd probably taken their time to set up at least one more the way Garrus and Tali were heading.

"Vakarian," she said over the com.

"Yeah?"

"Keep your eyes open for more traps," she said, "I doubt the geth would take the risk of letting anyone come through because they didn't have time to set up a proper trap."

"Yeah, Tali just found another and shut it down."

"Good. But don't let your guard down."

"We won't."

She continued down the tunnel until she came to a turn, where she stopped for a few moments with her flashlight turned off. Avery peeked around the corner, but saw nothing. No flashlight heads to give the geth away, which meant no geth yet.

Maybe they'd already gotten to the other team?

It was a possibility. But she refused to even consider it as one. They were all alive until she knew for sure that wasn't the case.

After no more than a few meters the tunnel turned again, and this time she did see a light at the end of it, and she heard shots echoing. But the light at the end was not the light from the flashlight head of a geth, but the light of beams set up in the chamber ahead, she saw as she got closer. The geth had of course arrived there before she did, but it seemed like the archeologists and the soldiers left were still putting up a fight.

The geth and their turian master were going to realize that humans did not give up so easily.

When Shepard charged into the room, much like she had when they first came down the tunnels, she realized that the remaining soldiers and archeologists did more than just resist. The first thing she saw was one of the soldiers standing with geth lying dead around him, smoke coming from his two handguns from overheating. In less than a second he reacted to her presence, and Avery was staring down the barrel of his gun for a few moments before he lowered it again.

"Shepard?"

She recognized that voice.

"Hart?"

He gestured to the others to lower their weapons as he put away his own, a wide smile on his face. "God, Shepard, I didn't think I'd see you-"

Avery didn't let him finish his sentence before she threw herself at him, tackling him to the ground in a bear hug.

After letting out a loud groan as they crashed to the ground, Hart chuckled, returning the embrace.

"Hart!" She loosened her grip on him, grinning almost from ear to ear at the sight of her oldest friend, pulling away slightly, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same, Shep" he replied, "I was assigned as the Commanding Officer during this excavation. Well, Doctor Jensen here calls all the shots, but I'm in charge of the soldiers." He nodded toward his team, and the others, and she counted at least a dozen survivors. "But I heard you've become pretty famous, becoming the first human Spectre. What's a big shot like you doing here?"

"Admiral Hackett asked me."

"So the old man doesn't think we can handle ourselves, huh?" he chuckled.

"Don't "old man" him; the man can command the whole human fleet." Shepard punched him in his arm, before standing up, holding out her hand to help him up on his feet. "He sent me to pick you up."

"This feels exactly like when my Mom sent Dad to pick me up from my friends in high school."

She frowned at him, before turning to the woman Hart had pointed out as Doctor Jensen, who was now walking towards the two.

"Commander Shepard?"

"Doctor Jensen," she replied, "I'm glad to see you're all right."

"Yes," the woman answered, "Though not all of us were so lucky. We lost contact with our other team when the geth attack. Are they…?"

"Some of them survived, but not everyone. I'm sorry." She lowered her head slightly in a comforting nod. "My team is with the survivors, they'll be alright."

"Good." Doctor Jensen looked around the room, at her colleagues and the soldiers as well as the non-functioning bodies of the geth. "I have no idea why they would come here. All we've found down here is burial chambers. There are still miles of tunnels we haven't explored yet, but I can't imagine what the geth would want from here."

"It could be anything," Shepard sighed, "If you haven't found anything of importance yet, then there's no point in trying to defend this place until the last man, we should escape while we still can."

"Agreed, Commander."

"Is there another way out from here?"

The doctor nodded. "There's one on the other end of this chamber, and we're lucky the geth haven't found it yet. We'd be dead if they had."

She turned to Hart again; saw him still smirking at her, giving her the urge to smack his arm again. "Get your men ready, Hart, and we'll go that way. Hopefully we won't run into any geth along the way."

"Roger that, ma'am." He saluted her.

"Don't roger me, Hart!" She pouted and smacked him on the arm, "It makes me feel old…"

He chuckled, "Well… I think we're both getting kinda old, ma'am…"


	17. Chapter 15

Avery walked among the survivors. Most of them were unharmed; the soldiers had done a good job keeping the archeologists safe. But some of them weren't as lucky as the other. Even though they had been warned, the geth had still managed to surprise them.

"Here," She said; preparing medi-gel for one of the wounded soldiers, "You need it more than I do."

He groaned slightly as the medi-gel took its effect, but then the pain disappeared. "Thank you, Commander."

She gave him a smile before standing up, finding Connor standing behind her.

"Still wanting to save everyone, Shepard?"

She lowered her head, continuing to walk away from the crowd, "If I can, then why shouldn't I?"

"I just hope that you know that you can't always save everyone." Hart put a hand on her shoulder, holding her back. "I'm not saying that you shouldn't, but the reality is that you can't save-"

"I can try." Shepard turned around, a smile on her scarred lips. "Is everyone ready to go?"

Connor sighed, and nodded, "They should be."

"This other way out, how long does it take to get through?"

"Without running into any geth?" Hart smirked, "Maybe ten more minutes that the way you came through."

"Alright." Avery turned to the soldiers and the scientists, when she felt his hand tighten its grip on her shoulder, and she looked at him again.

"You should know that the way leads into another chamber like this, Shepard," he almost whispered, "It's the perfect place for the geth to ambush us."

She was quiet for a while, nodded slowly.

If the geth knew of the other way into this chamber, they were probably already waiting there to ambush them. And even if they didn't, they were sure to have gotten to that passing in search of what they were after, leaving behind someone to make sure no one would follow.

"Get your men and women ready, Hart," she said after a few moments of silence, "I'll radio ahead for our pick up."

He nodded, and then turned around, walking towards his soldiers.

"Vakarian?"

"Shepard" Garrus voice cracked over the com.

"How are you holding up?"

"There's been no sign of geth so far," he replied, "How are things over there?"

"Surprisingly good," Avery chuckled, thinking about how this was an odd time for a reunion with old friends like Hart. "We're heading over to you soon. Would you radio Joker and tell him to come pick us up?"

"Sure thing."

"And make sure you're up top when he gets here, alright?"

"What about you, Shepard?"

"We'll be there, but it'll take us a while," she replied, "It's better if you wait for us on the ship, rather than being sitting ducks for the geth."

"Sitting ducks, Shepard?"

Avery chuckled, "Sorry, human expression. What I meant was that they don't need you for target practice."

"No, they don't," he replied, "Alright, I'll radio Joker."

"Good."

She lowered her arm and the orange light from the holo of the omni-tool faded. She then turned to the group of men and women. A glance in Hart's direction confirmed that they were ready to leave.

"We have to make our way out from these tunnels and up top if we're going to make it," Shepard said, "There's no time to wait for reinforcements, doing so will only get us killed."

She could see fear in their faces. The soldiers did a better job at hiding the fear, but she knew how they felt; it was the same feeling she had when she realized that it had been the geth that attacked Eden Prime. When she saw Saren's flagship rise to the skies in the horizon of a red sundown. When she realized his plan was to bring back an ancient race that wanted nothing less and nothing more than the total extermination of the galaxy.

But it was every soldiers job to hide that fear and fight through the terror. She knew these would do the same, to the death.

"We need to have a strong front," she said, "If we face any geth, those in the front will be the first to react to an assault. Staff-Lieutenant-"

"Staff-_Commander_" Hart interrupted her, and she could hear a few people chuckle.

"Sorry," she chuckled and smiled at him.

It was good that they still had courage enough to laugh in a situation like this.

"Staff-_Commander_ Hart and I will take the front with two more soldiers. Then the scientists in the middle, with two soldiers with them, and the last four at the end. If anyone is a biotic, I want you in the back protecting the scientists with barriers."

"We have three, Commander" Jensen said, "Hawke, Amell and Cullen."

"Good," she nodded, "One of you keep in the middle with the scientists, doing your best to keep those ahead safe from enemy fire."

The tree of them nodded.

"Shepard," a voice cracked over her com.

"Tali?"

"We're getting ready to leave for the surface. Joker will be here with the Normandy in four minutes."

"Good," Shepard replied, "Be there when he comes. We're just a few minutes behind."

"Alright. Good luck, Shepard."

"Same to you, Tali."

Her omni-tool disappeared from her arm again, and she turned to the group of soldiers and archeologists. They were thirteen, not counting her and Connor. They were all going to get out of this alive.

"We're leaving."

The Normandy finally landed. After having heard that Shepard and her team had been attacked by geth, and lots of them, Kaidan's mind couldn't help but remembering Eden Prime. Fighting those things were far from easy, and even though he knew she probably brought the quarian on this mission because her race created the geth, he still couldn't help but to worry about the Commander.

But now that he saw a group of humans coming against them with Garrus and Tali, he let out a sigh of relief.

He was standing at the opening to the cargo bay with Williams and the krogan Wrex, who – quite honestly – scared the hell out of him just standing there, but as soon as the Normandy touched ground, he was out of the ship and meeting Garrus, helping him support the wounded soldier.

"I hope Dr. Chakwas is ready," Garrus said and looked at him, "A lot of these people are in bad shape."

"She knows you're coming."

"Good."

Kaidan's eyes swept over the small crowd. "Where's the Commander?"

For a few seconds, Garrus didn't reply, there was just a small movement in his mandibles. But then he answered;

"We got separated."

"What?"

The turian turned his eyes to him, "We got separated after a geth ambush, but she'll be here."

He threw a glance in the direction of the tunnel entrance. "I hope so."

When they'd managed to get the wounded into the elevator, Garrus and Tali accompanied them up to the med bay, but he was too anxious to not stay in the cargo bay and wait for Shepard. Every possible scenario ran through his mind.

Of course he knew the Shepard could take care of herself, but being trapped under ground with God knows how many geth? How could he be sure that she'd get through that unharmed?

He waited for minutes. Minutes that seemed like long, antagonizing hours. There was no sound coming from the tunnels, nothing over the com.

Williams was also there, waiting in silence for their Commander to return.

And then someone came up from the tunnels, a woman. He couldn't recognize the woman, but she was soon followed by more.

"We need help!" the woman screamed, "The Commander has been injured!"

_No!_

Kaidan hurried towards the crowd, trying to get to her as soon as possible. "Shepard!"

"Alenko! Help me!"

He turned in the direction her voice was coming from.

"Shepard!"

He froze in his place as the first thing he saw was not her injury, but the man she was supporting, with his arm around her shoulders as she was trying to keep him on his feet. It appeared that the one injured was not his Commander, but the one stationed here. The blood was gushing from a wound in his shoulder.

"Help me, he's badly injured!"

"Aye aye!"

He hurried to her side, putting the man's other arm over his shoulders and they hurried into the ship, to get him into the med bay as soon as possible.

"Williams!" Shepard called, "Get the rest of the survivors into the ship! I want all thirteen on the Normandy before we leave!"

"Yes ma'am!"

Kaidan looked at his commander, but her grey eyes were completely focused on the man they were supporting between them.

"Hold on, Connor," she whispered to him, "Hold on."


	18. Chapter 16

The last hour had been chaotic.

Avery and the team of surviving soldiers and archeologists had managed to get almost all the way to the closest exit from the catacombs on Armeni, but then the geth had attacked them from both directions, coming from out of nowhere it seemed.

They'd fought them off quickly and without harm, but when the last geth had been destroyed, she had noticed Hart slumped down against the wall of the tunnel, with his hand tightly clutching his shoulder, bleeding profoundly.

He'd tried to tell her it was nothing at first, but when he tried to get back up on his feet, he fell back down, dizzy from the blood loss.

Shepard had given him a medi-gel shot to stop the bleeding, and then ordering the others to get out as fast as possible – still not sure they were completely safe from more geth ambushes.

She helped him back on his feet and, using her biotics as a boost, she carried him out from the tunnels and into the Normandy, to the med bay, where Dr. Chakwas had started treating him as soon as he was lying down on one of the cots.

Hart had lost a lot of blood, in just a few minutes, but the doctor managed to close the wound, and replaces the lost blood with plasma they had on board.

Things had calmed down now.

Shepard had given orders to Joker to take them to the Arcturus Station, to leave the soldiers and archeologists with Hackett, and was now sitting beside her friend, watching over his sleeping form.

He was so pale compared to his usually tanned skin due to the blood loss. Still more color to his skin now compared to hers though. And his hair had grown long since she last saw him. He almost looked like a complete stranger to her now.

She sighed and buried her face in her hands, rubbing her temples.

"What's up with the sigh?" a hoarse voice asked her, and she looked up again only to see a grin on his face.

"It was for your stupid ass getting caught in the crossfire!" she growled, barely managing to ignore the impulse to slap him, "What happened?"

"I saved iyour/i stupid ass from getting caught in the crossfire," he replied with a grin, slowly lifting his arm and nudged her arm with his hand. "You didn't notice the geth coming from the left."

"That's what shields and barriers are for, moron," she scolded, glaring at him, "And I clearly remember that when I asked, you said yours had been burned out."

Hart chuckled, "Well, I remembered that a certain woman taking a bullet for me, so I figured I should take one for you." 

"Damn you, Connor! That was different!"

"I don't see the difference," he smirked.

"For starters…" she said, pouting with her hips as she tried to think of a way to finish the sentence. "For starters; you're stupid!"

Connor laughed for a second, before his face in the next moment was twisted in pain from the wound in his shoulder, and he groaned loudly.

Avery leapt from her chair, "Connor!"

He shook his head, holding up his hand between them as a sign that he was alright. "Calm down… iMom/i," Hart chuckled, as her expression shifted from concern to a frown when he called her that.

"Funny, very funny," Avery muttered, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned back into the chair with a deep sigh, glaring at Connor, "I got really worried!"

"I know," he replied with a barely contained laughter, "That's why it's funny."

"You're such an ass." Her frown slowly faded into a smile. "I've missed you."

He grinned back at her, "And I you." He lifted his hand, cradling her cheek, his fingers playing with a lock of her mahogany hair. "You've let your hair grow."

"So did you."

Shepard reached out to touch his blonde hair, feel the softness of it between her fingers. For as long as she'd known him his hair had been shaved, like it had been the first time they met all those years ago. Her fingers reached up to touch the scar above his brow, her fingers trailing it up to his hairline where she knew it would continue almost all the way around his skull.

He was hiding it. He never used to hide his scar.

"Why?" she simply asked.

"Because Ophelia hated seeing it," he replied, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

"Since when do you let your girlfriends dictate the way you look?" she almost growled in distaste.

Hart chuckled, "Growing out my hair so people don't have to see my creepy scar isn't a big deal."

Avery brushed away the hair from his face. "It's not that creepy."

"I guess the creepy part for her was to know how close we Alliance soldiers come to death during some of our missions." He grinned at her, and Avery gave him a weak smile back.

"She's an ex-girlfriend now though."

She smiled at him, "Sorry."

"Don't be," he laughed like he had no care in the world, "I ended it because she wanted things to get more serious than I wanted them to be."

Shepard chuckled, "Still untamed and unbound?"

"As untamed and unbound as you are," Connor smirked at her.

Her lips curved into a smile.

"So I heard you've become the first human Spectre," he continued after a few moments of silence, still with a smirk on his lips, "You always have to be better than the rest, don't you?"

She laughed, shaking her head, holding up her hands in front of her, "Hey, I had nothing to do with it. It was the Alliance that was aiming for this. I'm still just an Alliance grunt, only with less red tape."

"Right…" he teased. "But how did you manage a feat like becoming the very ifirst/i human Spectre?"

Avery chuckled yet again, "Yeah, how did I manage that? I guess I caught the Alliance's eye during the Skyllian Blitz, but I got the feeling that the Council only made me a Spectre to get humanity off their back. They claimed it's because I'm the only who discovered that one of their Spectre agents had betrayed them, but they could've sent any of their more experienced Spectres on this mission, without having to go through the trouble of making me one.

"Now you're not giving yourself enough credit," he said, nudging her hand.

"I'm not saying I'm good," she grinned, "Because I know I am. But good enough to join the ranks of the best in the galaxy? I don't know…"

"I don't think they would make you a Spectre to appease humanity, because if they think we'd be satisfied before they give us a spot in the Council, they're dead wrong," he grinned back, "Don't you agree?"

"Well, I know it won't be long before the politicians start talking about it again. I just hope they won't pull me into it again. Dealing with the Council when they don't even believe me is bad enough," she sighed.

"They don't believe that their agent's gone rouge?" he asked, "How come they even authorized this mission?"

"I didn't mean that, it's-" Shepard sighed, "I'll tell you another time, it's a long story, and it's pretty unbelievable…"

"Okay," he replied, "Well, let's hope that they won't drag you into the politics then, if you've got your hands full. Or at least that they wait until you've finished your mission."

"Let's hope for the sooner rather than the latter." She smiled softly at him while the room fell silent, before she got up from her chair. "You should rest. We'll arrive at Arcturus Station in an hour or so."

"But Mom!" he protested, really stretching out the words as he said them, and she frowned as when he referred to her has his mother again.

"Well, since I'm your mother, you have to do what I tell you to do!" she grinned, placing her hands on her hips, "And now I'm telling you to sleep, so sleep!"

"Ugh…" he groaned in response, "Fine!"

Shepard leaned in and pressed a kiss to the top of his head before giving it a pat. "Such a good boy!"

He frowned, making a face at her.

"It's your own fault," she laughed, before waving her hand in front of the panel on the door, and it whooshed open, Avery stepping outside, giving him a last smile before the door closed again, and she headed for her small room.

"Joker?" she asked out into the air.

"Commander?" the flight-lieutenant's voice cracked over the comm.

"Let me know when we arrive," she said, "I'm going to finish my report on the mission to the Alliance."

"Aye aye, Commander."

Docking the Normandy to the station was going as smoothly as it ever did with Joker piloting the ship.

Avery stood ready by the airlock, waiting for the final approving and the docking to be complete, so that the medical staff of the Arcturus station could come aboard and bring the wounded soldiers and scientists to a better equipped medical bay than the one they had on board. The Normandy may be a state of the art ship, with a fully equipped med bay, and Dr. Chakwas was one of the best – if not the best – military doctor Shepard had ever met, but there was only so much she could do to treat the kind of injuries that they had suffered down on Armeni.

"Admiral Hackett requesting permission to come onboard the Normandy, Commander," Moreau called from the bridge.

"Let them onboard, Joker."

"Aye aye."

The door whooshed open in front of her after just a moment, the Admiral already walking up to her.

"Commander," he greeted.

She saluted him, "Admiral."

"At ease."

Shepard relaxed her posture slightly, letting her right hand drop to her side again. "I've sent my report to you, sir. I'm sorry to say that we didn't manage to get everyone out."

"That is not your fault, Commander," Hackett said, a harshness to his voice even as he was trying to soothe her feelings of guilt, but she couldn't help but to feel responsible. She should've been able to save everyone.

"Without you there, all of them would've been dead now."

Her reply was simply a nod. She knew he was right, but it didn't feel like she succeeded with her mission if not everyone got out alright in the end.

"You've been around long enough, Commander," he continued, "You know getting everybody out is rarely the case."

"I'll still try," she said, a small smirk curving her lips.

"That's why they made you a Spectre." He nodded, starting to walk towards the galaxy map, the crew saluting as they went by, "I'm almost surprised they didn't recruit you sooner after what you did on Elysium."

"Thank you, sir."

He stopped and turned to face her, "I don't need to tell you what a big chance this is for the Alliance. If you do this right, humanity could have a seat in the Council."

"I'll do my best, Admiral," she nodded.

"I know you will, Shepard." He turned around again, continued walking, "Where is Staff-Commander Hart?"

"He should be down in the Med-Bay." Though Avery seriously doubted it. He'd been running around almost every centimeter of the Normandy, driving Dr. Chakwas insane as she tried to get him to lie down and rest, or let her change his bandages.

"Take me to him," Hackett responded, "I want to talk to him about the mission."

"Yes, sir."

As they walked down to the med-bay in silence, Avery couldn't help but to wonder if her actions on Elysium were the only reason the picked her as a candidate to become a Spectre. There were plenty of good men and women in the Alliance, and a lot of them fit more into the image she had of the Spectres; Agents willing to do anything to finish their mission.

Shepard had never been one to believe that the end justifies the means. If she had to get her hands dirty just to reach a goal, wouldn't that goal be just as tainted then?

She had never disobeyed an order from a superior, but when the choice was hers to make, she would always choose the iright/i way, even if it was the harder and longer road.

"Admiral Hackett?"

Avery woke up from her thoughts when she heard Connor speak. She looked up and saw him hurry to get up from the cot and salute the Admiral, but Hackett raised his right hand in front of him, to stop him from getting up and possibly hurting himself in the process.

"At ease, Staff-Commander." He turned his head towards her. "I would like to talk to him alone, Commander."

She gave him a quick nod, saluting him, "Aye aye." And then she turned and walked out the door, before it whooshed closed behind her, and she relaxed her posture once more.

It gave her an odd sense of security having the Admiral around. All this business with her becoming a Spectre and getting the command of the Normandy had happened to quickly, that now that Hackett was on board; she remembered how it felt having a superior around, the comfort she took in knowing that she had someone to turn to when things started to hit the fan. Now all she had was herself.

"Commander?"

Avery turned the head in the direction the voice came from, and felt her lips curving into a smile as her eyes met the amber eyes belonging to Kaidan.

"Yes, lieutenant?"

"I was wondering if-"

He was interrupted by a voice roaring from behind her;

"AVERY!"


	19. Chapter 17

"AVERY!"

She turned around to see Connor coming stomping towards her, Hackett standing calm at the door to the Med-Bay.

"You're kicking me off the ship?!"

"I'm not kicking you off anything, you need medical care and-"

"You're kicking me off the ship!"

Shepard sighed, rubbing her forehead with her fingers. She had known that Connor would be angry about this, but she was hoping he knew why they wouldn't let him stay on the Normandy. He might be out of danger from his wound, but he still needed medical care, and he was not in shape to do any kind of work with his injury. Avery couldn't afford to bring someone on this mission she knew wouldn't be able to help, especially not when she would only worry about him.

"Hart..."

"I'm staying, Avery," he proclaimed, crossing his arms over his chest, stating forcefully that he had no intention of going anywhere, before his face winced in agony as the pain in his shoulder reminded him of its existence.

"Stop acting like a spoiled brat, Connor!" she roared so loud she could actually see him cower away at the raised hand she pointed at him.

"You're injured and I can't afford to babysit you right now! I get that you hate sitting on the side lines, but my mission is bigger than you and me, and I already have enough people putting their lives on the line without risking your life as well – especially when you almost got killed not a day ago!"

Avery took a deep breath, to calm herself down, realizing she might have been a bit too harsh and a bit too loud. Her silver eyes swept across the room, noticing that everyone in there had stopped all that they were doing, and were now staring at her. She looked back to Connor. He was the only one on this ship that had seen her like this before, but even he looked surprised. Shepard wasn't one to easily lose her patience with someone.

"This isn't a game, Connor," she sighed.

"I know," he replied after a moment of silence, "I just don't want to get left behind."

"There will be other missions."

"Not like this one, Ave."

"I'm sorry," she said, reaching out, placing her hand on his arm softly. "But I am not letting you stay on the Normandy when you need to go to a hospital."

He put his hand over hers on his arm. "Alright. But the second I'm out and good to go, I'm coming with you."

"I'm leaving that up to someone higher up in the food chain," Avery chuckled and nodded to Hackett, who still stood in the door to the med-bay.

Connor looked back over his shoulder, to the Admiral, before his shoulders slumped as he sighed.

She pushed his arm slightly, making him look up at her again, offering his usual grin before he turned around and walked over to the med-bay again.

Shepard hated having to leave him behind like this. Connor was one of the best soldiers she knew, and he truly loved what he did. Whether it was just acting security at a military research base like the mission on Armeni, or protecting a civilian colony like they both had when Elysium had been attacked by slavers during their shore leave all those years ago, he was always prepared. Connor Hart was always willing, willing to serve the Alliance.

He always talked about them making history, always saying that he knew that they would. They were going to be the new Jon Grissom, both himself and Avery. Elysium was their stepping stone, he said. The beginning of something greater for them. She always laughed at him when he talked like that, but she never really doubted him. He'd always been meant for bigger things, she knew it. He proved that on Elysium. She might've held of an overwhelming force on her own, but he had been the one to keep the civilians alive. Kept them safe and kept them calm. Avery had never been more proud of him.

She awoke from her thoughts as the door once again whooshed open in front of her, and both Hart and Hackett stepped outside.

The three of them walked up to the CIC and past it, to the airlock where they stopped. Hackett gave them a brief look before stepping outside, giving them a few moments before they parted ways again.

"So…" Connor chuckled after a few seconds to silence, with a smirk on his lips, "Is this where we have a heart wrecking farewell and kiss each other stupid?"

"In your dreams!" she laughed and smacked his good arm.

"Oh you know it!" he replied jokingly, making a smooching sound as he pouted his lips at her, before leaning forward and pulling her into a hug.

"You be good, okay?" he said softly and, kissing her temple.

She chuckled as she tightened her hold on him for a second, careful not to hurt his wounded shoulder. "I will, idad/i."

He pinched her arm before chuckling, "Not okay Ave!"

"That was payback for the mom-comment," she said and pinched him back, "Now we're even."

"Alright," he pulled away and grinned, and then they stood silent for a few seconds.

"I'm proud of you," Connor said, the smirk now turned into a soft smile, "You know that, right?"

She smiled back at him, "I know." She leaned in and kissed his cheek, "Now go before Hackett sends a few soldiers to pick you up." She patted his back.

"I'd like to see them try!" he grinned.

She grinned back and pushed him towards the airlock. "Go!"

"Yes yes, I will!" he said as he walked out, "Just remember to come pick me up! Soon!"

"We'll talk about it when you're better," she replied just before the airlock closed in front of her.

She stood there for a few moments, just looking at the door, before whispering softly, "You be good too." She then turned, and walked to the cockpit.

"Commander."

"Moreau." Shepard stopped behind his chair, with her hands clasped behind her back, and saw him look up at her with raised eyebrows.

"What?" she asked, her eyebrows rose as well.

"No one ever calls me Moreau. It sounded really weird when you said it," he replied.

"So you prefer Joker over Moreau?"

"Yeah," he replied, almost chuckling, but not quite, "I suppose I do now."

"Alright," she shifted her weight, "Joker then."

"Yeah."

"So why does everyone call you Joker? Where did you get the nickname?" She took a step back, leaning against the empty co-pilot chair, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It's a lot shorter than saying Alliance Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau," he replied sarcastically, clicking though screens as he did. "Plus, I love to make little children laugh."

Avery smirked, "I was just thinking how much you remind me of Santa Claus."

He scoffed and looked at her like he was about to make a face at her, or roll his eyes, but he resisted doing so. "Look, I didn't pick the name," Joker said, "One of the instructors in flight school used to bug me about never smiling. She started calling me Joker," – he shrugged – "And it stuck."

She cocked her head, "Why didn't you ever smile?"

"Hey, I worked my ass off in flight school, Commander," he replied, sounding slightly annoyed at the memories, and turned his whole chair in her direction, "The world's not going to hand you anything if you go around grinning like an idiot. By the end of the year, I was the best pilot in the Academy. Even better than the instructors, and everybody knew it. They'd all gotten their asses kicked by the sickly kid with the creaky little legs. One guess who was smiling at graduation," he finished with the biggest grin on his face.

Avery nodded and smirked, "Well, I can relate to that."

Joker gave her a short nod back. "Anything else you wanted ma'am, or did you just come to chat?"

She frowned. "You know what? If I'm not allowed to call you Moreau, then you're not allowed to ma'am me, alright?"

"Yes commander!" Joker saluted from his chair.

She gave him a sceptical look. "I guess I'm going to have to settle for that, aren't I?"

"Yep."

Shepard sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, but with a smile on her lips. "Alright…" Set course for the (Feros) system."

"Will do, commander."

She stood with him for a while, watching the flight lieutenant ready the ship for take-off, before she gave the station one last look out the window in the cockpit and walked back to the CIC and then down to the mess hall. She was tired, and arguing with Connor – however small the argument was – had taken the last drop of her energy. Now she just wanted something to eat before she crept back into her quarters for a few hours of sleep before they arrived at Feros. She hoped this mission would be different from the other two, but the odds were against her, as reports of geth attacking the colony where already coming in.

Saren was on a full scale attack on the human colonies it seemed. Bringing back the Reapers was an act of war against all the Council races, but… she couldn't help but to feel this was about putting a stick in the wheel for the humans as well. First the attack on Eden Prime and now this. Anderson had told her that Saren held a grudge toward humans, but this was almost ridiculous.

But she was going to put an end to all this, no matter what.

"Commander?"

Avery stopped in her track when the voice called her name and she noticed that she almost walked right into Kaidan as his whiskey coloured eyes locked onto hers.

"Alenko?" she said with surprise before she remembered that he had started asking her something earlier. "You seemed like you had something you wanted to safe before." iBefore Connor started acting like the overgrown kid he really is and refused to leave the Normandy./i

"Yeah... are you alright? I mean, earlier…" he said like he had read her mind.

She laughed and shook her head. "Yeah, I'm good!" Avery smiled at him. "I'm used to him trying to get his way by acting up." iLike a three year old child./i She waved her hand at him, motioning for him to follow. "Let's get something to eat."

Kaidan nodded slowly as he followed behind her. "So you know him from before?"

"Connor?" She took out enough provisions for them both to eat. "Yeah. He's the oldest friend I've got. We joined the Alliance about the same time, so we went through the basic training together before my superiors decided I needed some iofficial/i biotic training." Avery looked over to Kaidan with a smirk, and saw that he was preparing two cups of tea for them.

"You never had any biotic training before you joined the military?"

"No," she put the plates into the microwave and pressed a few buttons to start heating the food. "I'm a secondary exposure, so I only found out myself when I was sixteen, and… well you know how it is finding out you can move things with you mind," Avery chuckled and looked at him, seeing him smiling and nodding while stirring one of the cups before handing it over to her.

"Thank you." She took a small sip from the cup. "Back then I didn't really have the right funds or connections to get any proper training, so I just… figured it out on my own. At least I figured it would well enough not to hurt myself or anyone else."

"I never would've guessed that you never had any training before you joined the Alliance," Kaidan said and smiled at her, "You're better than most human biotics I've met."

The microwave beeped.

"Thanks," she smiled back as she opened the door to the microwave and took out the plates, handing one over to him. "I know I'm lucky that I got where I am today, considering how many human biotics ends up with, well… complications." Shepard walked over to the table, taking a seat before turning to him again. "I hear you're an L2?"

"One of the luckier ones," he replied, "I just get migraines sometimes."

"How bad do they get?"

Kaidan took a sip from his tea before he answered her. "It's manageable most of the time."

She nodded and smiled softly, "I won't pry if you're uncomfortable." Shepard knew how she felt about taking about her own weaknesses, and she would not do to him what she wouldn't want him to do to her.

His lips curved gently to a smile as a thank you before he took a bite of his food.

"But you didn't just want to talk about where I learned my biotic skills, I would guess," she then said after a few moments of silence as they both ate of their while it was still warm.

He straightened himself in his chair, and she could see his eyes sweep over the room as if he was making sure no one was close enough to hear them, before he actually said anything. "It's about Dr. T'soni."

Ah. Avery was wondering when someone would bring up concerns about their newest addition to the crew.

"I mean…" he said, clearing his throat while trying to keep his voice down without actually whispering. "She seems nice enough, but are you sure we can trust her, Commander? She is Matriarch Benezia's daughter after all…"

She smiled at him and swallowed the food she had in her mouth. "You don't think I'm cautious enough?"

"No, I didn't mean… I mean…"

Shepard chuckled softly. "I know what you mean, and of course it's crossed my mind that maybe I shouldn't be so quick to trust her. But we need her knowledge, both about the Protheans and her own mother; we can't afford to be picky. How long should I wait before I trust Liara? One week? Two?" She smiled and raised her shoulders. "Can we really be sure that we can trust anyone before they were offered the chance to betray us but turned it down?"

Kaidan nodded, and his eyes met hers again. "You're right."

"Trust is nothing without a little bit of faith," she said, "I'm hoping we can trust Liara, but I have no way of knowing if we can. So I'm taking a leap of faith, as I am when I trust you'll have my back if it turns out I was wrong."

He smiled at her.

"Or do you think I'm stupid for trusting to easily?"

"No!" he blurted out, and she wondered if it was just a reflex of politeness or his honest opinion. "I… I'm just happy that it's not up to me. I don't know if I'd be able to make the right choice."

"Well, neither of us knows if my choice was the right one yet, lieutenant," she responded with a soft smirk, "It might turn out that I was the fool that trusted the Matriarch's daughter."

Kaidan smiled at her, "I hope it doesn't turn out that way."

Avery laughed, "As do I!"

They both chuckled, before things went silent again, and she took another bite of her meal. It was good to know that even in this whole ordeal, she had a crew that trusted in her judgement, and that she could find a moment of peace even while in the eye of the storm.


	20. Chapter 18

Had they not been in the military, on an important Council mission, Avery might've stayed up all night talking to Kaidan. But they were and she didn't. They'd talked for a while after they both finished their food, talking about their training with the Alliance and his time at BAaT, before they both went to sleep.

It was easy talking to Kaidan. If there was something he wanted to talk about, he said it, without hesitating too much about it. And when she talked, he listened. Even if he was of another opinion, he listened to what she had to say.

She liked him. Maybe a bit too much considering she had a mission she needed to focus on, and they had regulations. And she couldn't possibly know if this spark she felt was mutual.

Avery sighed, running a hand through her tangled hair. She had other things to think about right now than sparks and regulations.

She took the elevator down to the cargo bay, and the thought occurred to her once again how slow the elevator actually was.

As the door pulled open in front of her, she stepped out, immediately turning her attention to the left side of the room, looking to Wrex, who was currently busy tinkering with his shotgun, as usual, and Ashley, cleaning the weapons of crew.

"Wrex, Williams," she walked up to her weapons locker, opening it. "You're coming with me to Feros."

Wrex replied with a grunt, Ashley with a nod and a "yes ma'am".

Shepard pulled out the pieces of her armour, preparing to suit up when she heard someone clearing their throat behind her.

"Commander?"

She turned around, saw Williams standing behind her.

"Do you have a few minutes to talk, one-on-one? Off the record?"

"Off the record then," Avery said with a short nod. "Is this duty related, Chief?"

"No, ma'am," Ashley replied, but hesitated for a short second after. "Well, maybe. I know things are different aboard the Normandy, but…" She paused, straightening herself. "I'm concerned about the aliens. Vakarian and Wrex. With all due respect, Commander, should they have full access to the ship?"

Shepard couldn't hide the small frown that appeared on her face. "They may not serve the Alliance, Chief, but they're allies," she almost growled. She had no patience for xenophobia. She had enough of that crap in her past.

"This is the most advanced ship in the Alliance Navy," Ashley replied, "I don't think we should give them free reign to poke around the vital systems. Engines. Sensors. Weapons."

Avery sighed and shook her head. "The turians helped build this ship, Williams. I doubt that keeping one of them away from Normandy's vital systems with keep the ship secret. They're all here to help. You don't trust the Alliance's allies?"

"I'm not sure I'd call the Council races allies," she said, her cynicism dripping from every word, "We – humanity, I mean – have to learn to rely on ourselves."

"Standing up for ourselves doesn't mean standing alone."

"I don't think we should turn down allies," Ashley said, "I just don't think we should bet everything on them staying allies. As noble as the Council members seem now, if their backs are against the wall, they'll abandon us."

"Why would you think that? If the Alliances' backs were against the wall, would we abandon our allies?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest, "You've got a pessimistic view of the galaxy, Williams."

"A pessimist is what an optimist calls a realist," she replied, shrugging. "Look. If you're fighting a bear, and the only way for you to survive is to sic your dog on it and run, you'll do it. As much as you love your dog, it isn't human." She sighed, shaking her head softly. "It's not racism. Not really. Members of their own species will always be more important to them than humans are."

Avery leaned back against the table at her side. "These seem like deeply-held beliefs. What made you think this way?"

Ashley shrugged again. "My family's defended the Alliance since it was founded. My father, grandfather, great-grandmother – they all picked up a rifle and swore the Oath of Service. I guess we just tend to think of Earth's interests as our own."

Shepard couldn't help but to smile a bit. She knew a lot of soldiers who joined the Alliance because they had a parent – or both – that was in the military before them. And she barely knew her birthparents names. "Your father must be proud that you enlisted."

"Yeah. I think so." She smiled, seemed to be drifting off to a memory for a moment. "So is that why you're here? Following in family footsteps?"

Avery smiled half-heartedly, trying to figure out how to word her next sentence. "My parents died when I was just barely out of my diapers, but I guess I was following in their footsteps. But mostly it was to get away from Earth. Lots of pollution, too many people." She looked up at Ashley. "People are trying to fix it, but…"

"But right now, it's not the best place to be. I get it," she nodded. "I guess without a family, you had no reason to stay."

"Something like that," she smiled, straightening herself again, "I can see where your concerns are coming from, Williams. But this is a multilateral mission, and I'm going to need you to work with non-humans, like it or not."

"It won't be a problem, Commander," Ashley replied with a nod. "You say 'jump', I say 'how high'. You tell me to kiss a krogan, I'll ask which cheek."

Shepard chuckled, "I'm glad it won't be a problem." She returned her attention to putting her armour on. "Now suit up chief, we're more than likely to run into trouble when we're down planetside."

"Aye aye, ma'am."

When both Avery and Ashley were ready with their equipment and armours on, the krogan was already waiting by the elevator, and while she wasn't the best at reading krogan expressions, she would say he looked a bit more annoyed than usual.

"Humans sure take a long time getting ready," he grunted, proving her right.

"Relax, Wrex," she replied, "No point in sitting around with your armour on when you're not even there yet."

Wrex just replied with another grunt.

The three of them went up in the elevator, as slow as anyone and with what felt like the beginning of a bad joke, the two women and the krogan made it feel even smaller in there than usual.

When they got up to the CIC she noticed a slight change in the crew. They probably didn't even think about it, but she could see they were not completely comfortable with having a fully armoured krogan walking the ship, especially not with his gun pulled out like it was now. Avery would tell Wrex to put it away, but the colony was under geth attack, and she had no idea what to expect when they got off the ship, so she actually preferred that he was already ready for whatever would come.

Ashley also had an aura of a warrior, and Shepard was sure that didn't help to ease the minds of her crew. That woman might not be as terrifying as a krogan, but that stern look on her face definitely made her intimidating enough for her not to want to piss this woman off.

And then there was her. She didn't know what the crew thought about her, she hadn't been with them for long, but she could imagine what they thought, with her becoming a Spectre, Anderson being forced to step down, this mission that they were on...

Another grunt from Wrex got her focus back on this mission ahead. Saren was their goal, but he was out of reach, for now. Now they needed to find out what the geth was up to on Feros, and why Saren sent them.

The three of them got to the airlock, the door closing behind them, and the artificial voice of the VI came on speaker. "Equalizing interior pressure with exterior atmosphere."

Shepard looked over her shoulder, first to Ashley, who gave her a short nod, barely notable, and then to Wrex, who seemed almost a bit too eager to make use of his M-300 Claymore shotgun.

"Logged. The Commanding officer is ashore. XO Pressley has the deck."

They walked out from the ship to the dock and the first thing she noticed was that there was no one there to meet them, which was almost always a bad sign. But then she could see someone standing a few meters away, getting up from behind cover and coming a few steps towards them.

"We saw your ship," he called, "Fai Dan wants to speak with you immediately."

Shepard stopped in front of him, her eyes scanning over the area before looking at him. He couldn't be more than sixteen or seventeen. "Who?"

"He's our leader," the young man said, "He needs your help to prepare for the geth. They're making another push. Up the stairs, pass the freighter."

She nodded shortly, "What's your name?"

"David," he replied, "David Ja-"

She noticed her two companions raising their weapons, Ashley quickly giving a "heads up!" and Shepard instinctively pulled the kid behind her and then not a moment later sending off a biotic pull, lifting two of the geths coming up in front of them off the ground, leaving them disoriented and vulnerable for Wrex's Claymore that ripped right through them both.

It was less than half a dozen, and they hadn't been able to pull a surprise attack, so Shepard and her team quickly finished them off, though she expected that they'd soon run into more.

She looked over her shoulder, offering a hand to the boy that had taken cover behind a crate. "Are you alright, David?" She noticed a treble in his hand, and his breathing was loud and unsteady. He was clearly not used to battle, and probably didn't have any combat training whatsoever.

"Y-yeah, yeah, I, uh…" He looked down at the hand around his abdomen, a tang of a red, thick liquid coming through his fingers.

Avery's eyes widened, and she quickly got him to sit down on the crate he had hid behind. She ordered the two others to keep an eye out for more geth before turning her attention to the wounded boy. "Here, let me see…" She gently lifted up his shirt, and he held up his arm to let her have a closer look.

She let out a sigh of relief, pulling out medi-gel from her gear. "The shot just graced you," she said, injecting him with the medi-gel, "But you're still going to need a doctor to take a look to make sure. Is there one where we're going?"

He nodded slowly, winced at the pain.

Shepard grabbed a hold of his shirt, tearing off the sleeve and folded it into a small bundle. "Here, hold this again the wound to slow the bleeding." She helped him up on his feet again and let him lean on her. She turned to Wrex and Ashley, nodding at them to start moving and them followed behind them with her left arm wrapped carefully around the boys waist to keep him up, and her heavy pistol in her other hand.

As she predicted, they ran into more geth when they ventured forward to the stairs, and she worried for a brief moment because it was a long time since she had to look after a civilian during battle, but Ashley and Wrex could manage this on their own, and she could keep the kid alive long enough to get out to the settlement.

"Parameter secure," the krogan grumbled, clicking his shotgun when they got back out from the stairs.

"Oh God, David!"

Shepard looked up; saw a group of people running towards them. "He's going to be alright, but he needs a doctor." She helped him over to one of the colonists; let him go once they supported him to stand.

One of the men looked at her, then to her two team members, and then back to the others. "Head to the tunnels. Make sure they're secure."

"We need to talk to Fai Dan," she said, strapping her gun back onto her hip.

"He's at the back of the settlement," one of the women replied, pointing further into the camp. "Just head right through there."

She nodded and they all started moving in the direction the woman pointed out to them.

They walked at a fast pace, but they still managed to get a glimpse of the colony camp. It was painfully obvious that the geth had hit them with surprise and that they had hit them hard. There were plenty of wounded people spread across the settlement, and though Avery would rather not think about it, the casualties had probably lowered their numbers significantly. But they had managed to stay alive and they had managed to keep fighting.

And at the end of the camp she found a man giving out orders and Shepard could only assume that this was the man that they were looking for.

"Are you Fai Dan?"


End file.
